Stock prices for oil-and-gas giant ExxonMobil advanced Thursday, a bounce back from a day earlier when the stock lagged the broader market, and seemingly unimpacted by a bristling Wall Street Journal report reviving what’s long been suspected to be a concerted effort among Exxon’s executives and board to downplay evidence that climate change is accelerated by burning fossil fuels.
Crude-oil prices CL00, +1.84% are up more than 5% over the past year and in Thursday trading crossed back above $90 a barrel for the first time in 2023, gaining ground amid news of tighter supplies. The market is also absorbing a report this week from the International Energy Agency saying global demand for oil will peak as soon as 2030, in part as greener alternative sources like solar, wind and nuclear pick up some of the slack.
Read: CEOs from GM, ConocoPhillips and more defy Trump’s climate-change stance, push for carbon price “I know how this information looks—when taken out of context, it seems bad,” he said. “But having worked with some of these colleagues earlier in my career, I have the benefit of knowing they are people of good intent. None of these old emails and notes matter though. All that does is that we’re building an entire business dedicated to reducing emissions—both our own and others—and spending billions of dollars on solutions that have a real, sustainable impact.
While still under investigation, early analysis of the August fire points fingers at climate change-linked drought conditions, abandoned pineapple farms that produced vegetative fuel for the flames and freak high winds from a tropical storm hundreds of miles away.And, in 2021, in a first-of-its-kind action, a Dutch court ordered Royal Dutch Shell Plc SHELL, +2.31% to slash its emissions harder and faster than planned.