The environmental group kicked off the campaign with a new
report, Denial and Deception: A Chronicle of ExxonMobil’s
Corruption of the Debate on Global Warming, detailing the company’s
history of deliberate efforts to hijack the global warming debate
through the use of front groups, flawed science and large political
contributions. ExxonMobil, the world’s largest energy company, has
spent millions of dollars to prevent any concerted government
action to fight global warming. Specifically, it has worked
aggressively to prevent U.S. acceptance of the Kyoto Protocol.
“ExxonMobil’s stance on global warming can be summed up in three
words: deny, deceive and delay,” said Kert Davies, Greenpeace
climate campaign coordinator. “Its propaganda machine has been hard
at work for more than a decade spewing out junk science,
fabricating doubts, and buying support of politicians from the
local level all the way to the White House.”
The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a
group made up of thousands of the world’s leading scientists and
scientific bodies, has found that global warming is man-made, it
will have severe environmental and health impacts if left
unchecked, and it is getting worse. Over the next century, a
warming of just a few degrees will lead to sea level rise, chaotic
weather patterns, agricultural loss and the spread of diseases in
North America.
By rejecting the Kyoto Protocol a year ago and proffering an
alternative plan on global warming that echoes the views of
ExxonMobil, the White House is recycling a version of the failed
voluntary plan offered by the first President Bush more than a
decade ago. The Greenpeace report details the close connections
between President Bush and ExxonMobil that date back to the
President’s days in Texas.
“ExxonMobil’s finger prints are all over the Bush
Administration’s stance on global warming,” noted Davies. “Bush
global warming policy smells a lot like ExxonMobil.”
Greenpeace activists around the
world will engage in a week of protests against ExxonMobil from May
13 through May 18.
