The federal Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating how oil giant ExxonMobil calculates the value of its assets in a world looking to force stricter rules on fossil fuel emissions, according to multipleย reports.
According to the Wall St. Journal, which broke the story, the SEC asked ExxonMobil and its auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers, for documents lastย month.
The SEC probe is examining how the oil companyโs financials allow for international efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions and how the company โevaluates the economic viability of its projectsโ under climate changeย laws, the WSJย reported.
The investigation puts an ever-brightening spotlight on ExxonMobilโs current and historical dealings with climateย change.
The company is facing probes from several attorneys general into whether the company lied about what it knew about the risks of burning itsย products.
Those investigations came after reports in the LA Times and Inside Climate News that found the companyโs own scientists were warning about the risks of human-caused climate change in the earlyย 1980s.
Exxon, and later the merged ExxonMobil company, went on to pour millions of dollars into groups which denied the link between fossil fuel burning and climateย change.
Climate change campaigner Bill McKibben, of 350.org, said in a statement: โThis is a remarkably important development โ the federal government is joining the courageous state attorneys general, and they’re all following the trail of clues that began with powerful investigativeย journalism.
โBefore they’re done we’ll understand considerably more about how the world overheated โ but in the meantime, every institution that invests in Exxon should take real note of who you’re keeping companyย with.โ
An ExxonMobil company spokesperson, Alan Jefferson, told CNBC: โThe SEC is the appropriate entity to examine issues related to impairment, reserves, and other communications important toย investors.
โWe are fully complying with the SEC request for information and are confident our financial reporting meets all legal and accountingย requirements.โ
News of the investigation saw ExxonMobilโs shares drop by 1.5 percent at the close of trading on Tuesday, reported Reuters.
Main image: SEC headquarters in Washington, D.C.ย Credit: Flickr/SEC
