ExxonMobil’s chief spokesman, Kenneth Cohen recently stated that, “Exxon Mobil Corp. never in the past decade doubted the risk from climate change… [and] had simply firmed up, or “evolved,” its understanding of the threat.”
If by firming up the science, Cohen means spending an estimated $23 million on think tanks and associations that have spent the better part of the last decade attacking the scientific evidence for human-induced global warming, then we couldn’t agree more.
Bowing to public pressure late last year, Exxon announced that it was cutting funding to these think tanks. However, according to a recent report by Greenpeace, the oil giant spent $2.1 million in 2006 on 41 other think tanks.
No matter how much Cohen wants ExxonMobil to be green, it is going to have to show true leadership on the environment and a first big (and oh so obvious) step would be to end funding the think tank war on global warming science.
Seriously, it’s a couple of million dollars to a handful of organizations that are doing Exxon’s image way more harm than good. How hard of a decision can it really be?
