Why Is Exxon Writing to Trump?

As the company with the seven largest revenue, it’s fair to say Exxon Mobil has quite an influence in the oil and gas industry. But how about politics? Recently, the multinational corporation has attempted to flex its political muscles with a letter to Donald Trump urging him to change his mind about the Paris Climate Agreement. Read on to see what they have said – and why.

Green Exxon?

It’s fair to say – as a huge oil and gas company – Exxon aren’t your typical environmental warriors. But desperate times call for desperate measures. And in recent years, Exxon have accepted the reality of climate change, reducing their emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) by over 45 percent. Last year, they even lobbied other energy companies to join in support of a carbon tax.

Now, however, the US-based oil giants find themselves faced with a president determined to remove his country from the landmark Paris agreement. In his time rallying and even in power, Trump has denounced climate change as overstated, a myth and even a Chinese conspiracy. So it’s not particularly surprising that he plans to sign off yet another executive order pulling America out of it.

Writing to persuade

To try and convince Trump otherwise, Exxon’s environmental policy and planning manager, Peter Trelenberg, has written to Trump’s international energy and environment assistant. In the letter, he describes the Paris agreement as an “effective framework for addressing the risks of climate change”. He also underlines the global importance of the United States’ adherence with the agreement.

“We welcomed the Paris Agreement when it was announced in December 2015 and again when it came into force in November 2016… It is prudent that the United States remain a party to the Paris agreement to ensure a level playing field, so that global energy markets remain as free and competitive as possible”

Learning from climate change

One thing we can learn from the impact of climate change is that it’s not just going to go away. Dramatically reduced sea ice, rising sea levels and more extreme weather events are all clear to see. But we can also look at the consequences as a way of developing new solutions. ‘What can we learn from 2015/16’s extreme flooding?’ looks at what went wrong with flood prevention in recent flooding events and how we can use this to plan for the future.