Exxon, along with its allies in the Middle East and now the White House, is increasingly trying to redefine the energy transition to include a long-term future for oil and gas and a market-led approach to low carbon.
Photographer: Luke MacGregor/BloombergExxon Thinks It Can Count Carbon Better
The oil giant is pushing for a new carbon accounting method, which worries climate advocates but shows Exxon is sticking with its emission-reduction goals despite Trump’s attacks on low-carbon energy
When you’re one of the biggest polluters, you have a vested interest in how pollution is counted. That is why ExxonMobil has joined an industry effort to create a new carbon-accounting system, which it claims could enable more accurate calculations of emissions-intensity at a product level. Climate advocates say it’s yet another delay tactic.
But Chief Executive Officer Darren Woods says it’s not. “If you want to eliminate all the emissions, you damn well better be able to account for all of them,” he said in an interview for the Zero podcast, speaking last week from the sidelines of preliminary events tied to the COP30 climate summit in Brazil. It’s his third consecutive trip linked to the United Nations-sponsored global climate meeting, and he’s putting the oil and gas giant’s weight behind what he thinks is a necessary climate solution.