Exxon Leaving ALEC: Important But Insufficient Step in Addressing Company's History of Climate Science Denial, Campaigners Say

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ExxonMobil has announced it will leave the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a corporate lobby group known for its attempts to block climate action. Campaigners cautiously welcomed the decision, though said Exxon had to do more to prove it was committed to addressing climateย change.

Exxonโ€™s decision comes after opposition to ALECโ€™s attempt last December to get the Environmental Protection Agency to abandon its position that climate change proposes a risk to humanย health.

ALEC links corporations to state legislators with the aim of drafting legislation to inhibit or repeal pro-climate policies. The group is bankrolled by the Koch brothers, the USโ€™s leading climate science denial funders. The Nation reports that โ€œno-one knows how much the Kochs have given ALEC in total, but the amount likely exceeds $1ย millionโ€.

ALEC also has strong support from a US โ€œweb of denialโ€ in its mission to block climate action, with backing from climate science denial organisations such as the Heartland Institute and Heritage Foundation.

Exxonโ€™s decision to leave ALEC comes after other corporate giants also decided to cut ties with the group, including BP, Royal Dutch Shell Group, andย Ford.

The decision to split from ALEC has been cautiously welcomed by environmental organisations as a significant step towards climate action from Big Oilย companies.

Ben Ratner, Senior Director of the Environmental Defence Fund, described it in a press release as an โ€œimportant statementโ€, since companies โ€œseeking to show corporate social responsibilityโ€ should โ€œdistance themselves from groups that pursue agendas harmful to public health and theย environmentโ€.

However, campaigners are asking whether Exxonโ€™s break from ALEC is enough to compensate for decades of effort to stymie climateย action.

Fossil Fuel Accountability Campaign Director for the Union of Concerned Scientists, Kathy Mulvey,ย said in a statement that โ€œthe company has a lot more to do to set things straightโ€, since Exxon still gives $1million per year to the US Chamber of Commerce, which โ€œrefused as recently as 2014 to acknowledge that global warming is caused by human activity and funded a 2017 report attacking the Paris climateย agreementโ€.

Jesse Brag of Corporate Accountability, told DeSmog UK specificially โ€œExxon’s departure from ALEC is a clear indication that the Big Polluter is feeling the heat. Make no mistake, despite what it would have people believe, Exxon isn’t changing, it’s caving. People and environmental groups have for years put pressure on Exxon for it’s use of trade associations like ALEC to do it’s climate denial bidding. It’s exit from ALEC is a clear indication that not even Exxon, one of the biggest funders of climate denial and corporate polluters in the world, is immune to publicย pressure.โ€

Responding to Exxon’s decision not to renew its membership, ALEC said it โ€œvalues partnership with ExxonMobil and stakeholders across the business community. Organization government relations strategies change over time, and we have valued ExxonMobilโ€™s work and leadership with ALEC on STEM education, among otherย issues.โ€

A report by climate non-profit Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) in 2017 put ExxonMobil alongside Saudi Aramco and Russian gas giant Gazprom at the top their list of the worldโ€™s biggestย emitters.

Greenpeace has documented how Exxon knew about the harmful effects of fossil fuels as far back as the 1950s, and yet the company has been responsible for pouring as much as $34.6 million into spreading climate scienceย denial.

Over the last few years, ExxonMobil has come under fire numerous times for lobbying in the UK against electric vehicles, funding Congress and corporate lobby groups to deny climate change, and knowingly misleading the public about the reality of theย issue.

ExxonMobil has been contacted forย comment.

Updated 13/07/18: Jesse Bragg, Corporate Accountability, statementย added

Main image credit: Mike Mozart/Flickrย CC BYย 2.0

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