National Legal and Policy Center has persistently opposed ExxonMobil‘s unrealistic climate policies. We knew the company would eventually have to face the reality that carbon capture and storage projects would be unprofitable without government subsidies. Over roughly the last year, ExxonMobil has steadily walked back its climate promises, which has given NLPC regular opportunities to highlight that we were right. The Financial Times reports on this latest installment:
ExxonMobil says it will “pace” spending on low-carbon projects because of disappointing customer demand and government policies that are failing to provide the right incentives to create viable markets.
Chief executive Darren Woods told the Financial Times that assumptions the company made when setting a $30bn capital expenditure budget for “low emissions opportunities” to 2030 last year had not been met.
Woods said there were not enough customers willing to buy products such as hydrogen and biofuels and that climate policies designed to support decarbonisation “frankly aren’t working”.
“That’s challenging with the investments we would have to make to generate a return. Policy around the world hasn’t moved in the direction that we had anticipated,” he said in an interview on the sidelines of an event in São Paulo, ahead of Brazil hosting the COP30 climate summit next week.
“So we’re going to pace that spending based on how quickly the market and policy transitions evolve.”
Of course, we have to leave Mr. Woods room to contradict both himself and shareholder interests:
Woods said government regulation on carbon emissions was “very reminiscent of centrally planned economies — think North Korea, East Germany, the Soviet Union, Cuba”.
“That is the feature of how this whole problem is being tackled today — government dictating what the solution needs to look like.”
In other words, Mr. Woods is complaining that Western governments have taken a heavy handed approach to dictating climate policy while also complaining that “low-carbon ventures” are unprofitable because policy hasn’t “moved” the way ExxonMobil “anticipated.” That sounds like Mr. Woods wants generous subsidies with no strings attached.
We shouldn’t be surprised. Mr. Woods called for President Trump to keep the US in the Paris Agreement, even though it forms the basis for many of the climate policies he opposes. In response, NLPC called for Mr. Woods to resign or be removed from his top roles at ExxonMobil. His leadership and his stance on climate change has appeared indecisive, but the truth about ExxonMobil’s climate policies is clear: they don’t work.
