ExxonMobil researchers, photo courtesy of ExxonMobil

ExxonMobil denies withholding data

USA

IRVING, October 22, 2015 – ExxonMobil has denied allegations of wrongdoing in articles published by InsideClimate News and The Los Angeles Times. The super-major’s vice-president of public and government affairs, Ken Cohen, released a statement in response to the backlash that ensued after articles citing ExxonMobil’s own research were published.

According to Cohen, the writers for the news publications specifically used data that painted the energy company in a negative light, rather than drawing conclusions from the company’s research as a whole.

“Activists deliberately cherry-picked statements attributed to various company employees to wrongly suggest definitive conclusions were reached decades ago by company researchers. These activists took those statements out of context and ignored other readily available statements demonstrating that our researchers recognised the developing nature of climate science at the time which, in fact, mirrored global understanding,” Cohen said in a company statement.

ExxonMobil maintains that it supports climate science and is aware of the potential dangers of climate change.

“The facts are that we identified the potential risks of climate change and have taken the issue very seriously,” Cohen said.