Climate

Sebastião Salgado, a renowned photojournalist who died last week, spent decades capturing an Amazon that is fast disappearing.

ExxonMobil’s annual foray into climate action cosplay is out, and this year’s “Advancing Climate Solutions” report once again dresses up propaganda as science, ignores history, and defies common sense.  

This year’s review comes on the heels of a new report from UCS prominently featuring ExxonMobil titled Decades of Deceit. This collection of internal documents outlines how the fossil fuel industry knew about the harms of its products since the 1950s and carried out a highly deceptive public relations campaign to distract from the reality of climate change and delay climate action.  

Unsurprisingly, ExxonMobil’s latest attempt to dust over this history is more of the same and continues that legacy of deception and greenwashing, manipulating scientific understanding to maintain a veneer of climate action. It’s both rhetorically confident and decidedly noncommittal, full of statements pledging up to billions of dollars in investments to support the transition to net zero, declarations of its rebrand as a “molecule transformation company”, and no acknowledgment of its role in driving climate change in the first place.  

This is the third such report I’ve reviewed as part of my work at UCS. Last year, I explored how ExxonMobil’s graphs imparted an impression of scientific credibility to glossy yet meaningless graphs that again are a key feature.  But here, we’ll be exploring this report as a masterclass in paltering, where facts are presented deceptively, in this case without key information required to properly contextualize them.  

Who is this report for?  

Before we dive into the content of the report, let’s be clear: this report is targeting shareholders and investors. Both of these groups may feel the need to either market themselves as green, requiring cover to continue investing in ExxonMobil. Alternatively, this report could also be deployed as a tactic to appease those who aspire to walk in the footsteps of Engine No. 1, an activist investor which in 2021 led a successful proxy fight to claim three seats on ExxonMobil’s board.  

The report was published in the lead-up to ExxonMobil annual shareholders’ meeting—at which no climate-related shareholder proposals are on the agenda. Last year, the corporation took the extreme measure of filing suit against two investor groups that filed resolutions asking for deeper global warming emissions reductions, refusing to drop the suit even after the shareholders withdrew their proposal. 

Climate report says what?  

ExxonMobil’s report misrepresents conclusions from both the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and International Energy Agency (IEA) by denying the importance of a fossil fuel phaseout to meet climate goals and instead focusing on carbon capture and storage (CCS) as the essential solution to meeting climate targets. While both institutions recognize a potential role for CCS in specific sectors, ExxonMobil’s framing ignores the broader consensus that rapid emissions reductions through proven solutions, such as transitioning to renewable energy, are the cornerstone of any credible climate strategy.  

The 2023 IPCC Synthesis Report presents multiple pathways to limit global warming, some of which include carbon capture and storage (CCS). However, all such pathways also require steep and immediate emission reductions. In this context, abatement refers to capturing at least 90 percent of emissions from a given source, a performance level that current CCS deployment has not consistently achieved. Notably, ExxonMobil supports its claims about CCS cost-effectiveness by citing outdated findings from a 2014 IPCC report, ignoring more recent assessments and real-world performance data.  

The current limitations of CCS do not excuse inaction; rather, they underscore the urgent need for proven mitigation strategies and strong regulatory standards that do not rely on unproven or future technologies. 

Carbon Capture and Storage 

Let’s dig into carbon capture and storage (CCS), the largest portion of ExxonMobil’s low carbon solutions chapter, but one presented without some very important context.  

Carbon capture was not developed as a climate mitigation strategy, although the fossil fuel industry has sought to rebrand it as such, touting applications to fossil fuel infrastructure and hard-to-abate sectors. In reality, and notably absent from the report is the fact that the majority of captured carbon is and has been used to extract more oil. This process, called enhanced oil recovery, has been happening since the 1970s.  

The first examples of carbon capture come from fossil gas processing. Practically, CO2 needs to be separated from extracted raw gas to produce fossil gas, which is primarily methane.  This would be required regardless of the fate of the separated CO2. That CO2 can be sold for EOR or storage instead of vented, creating an additional revenue stream from gas processing. However, even today, the majority of CO2 used in EOR comes from natural reservoirs of CO2. 

ExxonMobil’s claims in this report also overstate the efficacy of carbon capture, particularly for power plants. A 2020 peer-reviewed study found that roughly 90% of proposed projects in the power sector were never built, and many that became operational missed their capture targets by between 15 and 50%.   

In addition, little evidence exists that this technology can be scaled in time or at the level needed to deliver the deep emissions cuts required between now and 2030—especially in comparison to more mature, cost-effective solutions. Yet, this crucial context is absent from ExxonMobil’s report, which presents CCS as a silver bullet rather than one potential tool within a broader, science-based climate strategy. 

Who needs history anyway?  

One of the most frustrating parts of reading this report is the complete disregard of how we got to this place. It reads as if climate change is just a thing that happened without influence from industry, government, or the cooperation between both. What Decades of Deceit along with the 2015 UCS report, the Climate Deception Dossiers, make clear, is that arriving at this point, 422 ppm (parts per million) CO2  and rising, did not just happen but rather was the result of a long-running fossil fuel industry campaign to muddy the science of climate change, attack experts, and manipulate public discourse. To ignore this context is the biggest ruse of all.  

Threat of liability is growing 

This report was released into a domestic political situation that is hostile to the energy transition, and one where liabilities and litigation associated with ExxonMobil’s role in driving climate change continue to grow. The Trump administration has very publicly allied itself with not only fossil fuel industry and interests, but integrated industry into the administration itself (see Chris Wright, or Rex Tillerson). On top of that, we’ve seen the administration bludgeon not only research focused on climate change but mere mentions of it across federal websites and programs.  This deep integration of industry and government increases the risk of an industry-wide liability waiver, one that could provide immunity to an industry that knowingly caused damage to our planet and communities, while profiting handsomely.  

Meanwhile, litigation targeting the deceptive conduct of the fossil fuel industry and legislation seeking accountability marches ahead despite attempts by the administration to stymie these efforts. And the science connecting emissions traced to these companies to devastating climate impacts continues to strengthen, as does our ability to show the role of climate change in a growing number of extreme events.  

Shareholders must demand an end to disinformation and greenwashing 

ExxonMobil’s 2025 report is not a roadmap for climate action—it’s a distraction. While ExxonMobil’s strategy may have changed, this report illustrates that the corporation’s output of (highly produced) disinformation continues. From misrepresenting the conclusions of the IPCC to overstating the potential of its technologies, ExxonMobil continues to put significant effort and resources into creating the illusion that the company cares about climate change.  

That’s why the Union of Concerned Scientists is urging shareholders and financiers to demand that ExxonMobil cease disinformation and greenwashing on climate science, public policy, and corporate actions.   

Band of water where marine life can survive has reduced in more than a fifth of global ocean between 2003 and 2022

Great swathes of the planet’s oceans have become darker in the past two decades, according to researchers who fear the trend will have a severe impact on marine life around the world.

Satellite data and numerical modelling revealed that more than a fifth of the global ocean darkened between 2003 and 2022, reducing the band of water that life reliant on sunlight and moonlight can thrive in.

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Meg O’Neill tells energy industry conference that individual consumers’ role in driving emissions is ‘missing’ in conversations about fossil fuels

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The boss of Australian gas giant Woodside, Meg O’Neill, has attacked young people who take an ideological stand against fossil fuels, suggesting they are hypocrites for ordering cheap online consumer goods “without any sort of recognition of the energy and carbon impact of their actions”.

O’Neill was speaking during the gas industry’s annual conference in Brisbane, where the resources minister, Madeleine King, said the government was working to enhance exploration for gas while improving the approvals process for companies.

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For decades, California has been able to adopt its own emissions regulations, effectively setting the bar for carmakers nationally. And for just as long, Republicans have resented the state’s outsize influence.

Environment minister Murray Watt is due to make a decision on whether to extend the controversial North West Shelf development in coming days

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• Reliable energy or ‘carbon bomb’? What’s at stake in the battle over Australia’s North West Shelf

Unless something remarkable – the federal court, perhaps – intervenes, the Albanese government will this week make a decision that could have ramifications for greenhouse gas emissions and Indigenous heritage that last for decades – or longer. It relates to the future of the North West Shelf, one of the world’s largest liquified natural gas (LNG) projects.

Most discussion about it assumes that it is a done deal – that the environment minister, Murray Watt, will give the green light to an application by Woodside Energy to extend the life of the gas export processing facility on the Burrup peninsula in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.

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Exclusive: Disaster Relief Australia pushes for funding deal as it positions itself as alternative to ADF in aftermath of floods, fires and cyclones

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The veteran-led organisation on the frontline of disaster recovery wants federal government support to help establish a 10,000-strong volunteer army.

Disaster Relief Australia (DRA) is pushing for a new funding deal to secure its future and grow its force, as it positions itself as an alternative to the Australian defence force in the aftermath of major floods, fires and cyclones.

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Warmer waters near Devon and Cornwall are creating a cephalopod-based ‘financial bonus’ for the fishing industry

Octopuses have long captivated humans with their alien-like appearance and bizarre anatomy.

This spring, the cephalopods have been baffling, delighting and enraging fishers in English waters as an unprecedented marine heatwave has led to a surge in their numbers.

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Brutal heat and drought expected to blanket country from Nevada to Florida as experts worry climate cuts will burn

This year’s summer months promise to be among the hottest on record across the United States, continuing a worsening trend of extreme weather, and amid concern over the impacts of Trump administration cuts to key agencies.

The extreme heat could be widespread and unrelenting: only far northern Alaska may escape unusually warm temperatures from June through August, according to the latest seasonal forecast from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa).

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Battery-operated vehicles were a mainstay more than a hundred years ago, but only a few still exist — one happens to be in Jay Leno’s garage.

Monday comments to Sky News raise doubts about looming cooperation agreement with the Liberals

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The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, says his party’s support for a policy of net zero emissions by 2050 is up for review, contradicting his deputy and raising doubts about the looming cooperation agreement with the Liberals.

After days of turmoil within the Coalition, Littleproud told Sky News he was relaxed about speculation his leadership could come under challenge from former leader Michael McCormack, denying there was division within the Nationals.

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Stark warnings about threatened coastal areas should prompt fresh efforts to protect those most at risk

In his classic study of the 17th-century Dutch golden age, The Embarrassment of Riches, the art historian Simon Schama showed how the biblical story of Noah’s ark resonated in a culture where catastrophic floods were an ever-present threat. The history of the Netherlands includes multiple instances of storms breaching dikes, leading to disastrous losses of life and land. These traumatic episodes were reflected in the country’s art and literature, as well as its engineering.

In countries where floods are less of a danger, memories tend to be more localised: a mark on a wall showing how high waters rose when a town’s river flooded; a seaside garden such as the one in Felixstowe, Suffolk, to commemorate the night in 1953 when 41 people lost their lives there.

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It is undoubtedly clear that continuing to burn or export fossil fuels will increase climate change and the risk of extreme weather

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As New South Wales once again faces heavy rainfall and flooding, the Victorian towns of Euroa and Violet Town will enter stage 2 water restrictions next Wednesday. How is the climate crisis affecting these contrasting extremes?

The weather pattern bringing heavy rainfall to NSW is a common wet-weather scenario for the coast. A high-pressure system in the Tasman Sea has stalled, and the anticlockwise air flow around the high is pushing moist air from the ocean over land. At the same time, about three kilometres above the surface, a low-pressure system is lifting the moist ocean air up. As moist air rises, it forms clouds, storms, and finally rain.

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Mike Berners-Lee tells Hay festival audience to make spread of political deceit more socially embarrassing

People should confront their family members who read news from “nefarious” sources, suggests the environmentalist Mike Berners-Lee.

“Challenge your friends and family and colleagues who are getting their information from sources that have got nefarious roots or a track record of being careless – or worse – with the truth, because we need to make this sort of thing socially embarrassing to be involved in,” said Berners-Lee, the brother of the World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee.

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The agency plans to argue that carbon emissions from power plants do not contribute “significantly” to climate change. Scientists disagree.

Rainy weather emboldens the scavenging species – climate refugees driven from their wetland homes

Rain slicks the pavement at Sydney’s Prince Alfred Park. Commuters hurry under umbrellas, takeaway bags clutched tight.

But one group remains unbothered – heads tilted, shoulders hunched, beaks long. It’s lunchtime, and the ibis are here to eat.

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Among a flurry of executive actions, Mr. Trump directed the nation’s nuclear safety regulator to speed up approvals for new reactors.

A recipe for a vegan cake from a food blogger in Oregon helped a Times reporter to realize that plant-based eating could be delicious.

La Oficina Nacional de Administración Oceánica y Atmosférica prevé entre 13 y 19 ciclones con nombre durante la temporada de huracanes del Atlántico, que va del 1 de junio a noviembre.

Mosquito experts say cuts in aid will lead to collapse of crucial surveillance and control in endemic countries

Climate change could make the UK vulnerable to insect-transmitted tropical diseases that were previously only found in hot countries, scientists have warned, urging ministers to redouble efforts to contain their spread abroad.

Leading mosquito experts said the government’s cuts to international aid would lead to a collapse in crucial surveillance, control and treatment programmes in endemic countries, leading to more deaths.

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