Has Exxon-Mobil *really reformed on AGW since 2007?
Per this quote from Feb. 5, 2007 article by CNN.Money:
"This has become a strategy of Exxon's over the years," said Hoover. "The number one way to fight Kyoto was to insert doubt into people's mind." A recent report from the Union of Concerned Scientists said Exxon spent $16 million between 1998 and 2005 funding 43 "organizations that seek to confuse the public on global warming science." According to Exxon's Web site, the company contributed $240,000 to AEI {American Enterprise Institute- a center for denial machinery} in 2005 and a similar amount in 2004.
An Exxon (Charts) spokesman said the company continues to donate to AEI, but said it does not control what the group does.
But Exxon has recently acknowledged that global warming *is happening. The oil giant conceded that humans are partly to blame for the phenomenon, and pledged to stop funding what many consider to be fringe groups that downplay human's role in global warming.
"There is increasing evidence that the earth's climate has warmed," reads Exxon's latest statement on global warming, issued Friday { Feb., 2007} in response to the UN IPCC study. "CO2 emissions have increased...and emissions from fossil fuels and land use changes are one source of these emissions. "Because the risks to society and ecosystems [posed by global warming] could prove to be significant, it is prudent now to develop and implement strategies that address the risks, keeping in mind the central importance of energy to the economies of the world. This includes putting policies in place that start us on a path to reduce emissions, while understanding the context of managing carbon emissions among other important world priorities, such as economic development, poverty eradication and public health."