WASHINGTON, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- Exxon Mobil Corp. has
funneled nearly 16 million U.S. dollars between 1998 and 2005 to a network of 43
advocacy organizations that seek to confuse the public on global warming
science, according to a report published on Wednesday by the Union of Concerned
Scientists.
"Exxon Mobil has manufactured uncertainty about the
human causes of global warming just as tobacco companies denied their product
caused lung cancer," said Alden Meyer, UCS' Director of Strategy &Policy. "A
modest but effective investment has allowed the oil giant to fuel doubt about
global warming to delay government action just as Big Tobacco did for over 40
years."
The report said that Exxon Mobil-funded organizations
consist of an overlapping collection of individuals serving as staff, board
members, and scientific advisors that publish and re-publish the works of a
small group of climate change contrarians.
According to UCS, Exxon Mobil has used the laudable
goal of improving scientific understanding of global warming -- under the guise
of "sound science" -- for the pernicious ends of delaying action to reduce
heat-trapping emissions indefinitely. ExxonMobil also exerted unprecedented
influence over U.S. policy on global warming, from successfully recommending the
appointment of key personnel in the Bush administration to funding climate
change deniers in Congress.
However, Elaine Wauchope, a spokeswoman from Exxon Mobil
told Xinhua that they have given the serious response to the report from
UCS. "From our initial review of the 63-page report by the Union of Concerned
Scientists, this clearly is yet another attempt to smear our name and confuse
the discussion of the serious issue of CO2 emissions and global climate change,"
Exxon Mobil said in a statement provided for Xinhua.
"What is clear today is that greenhouse gas emissions are
one of the factors that contribute to climate change, and that the use of fossil
fuels is a major source of these emissions", Exxon Mobil clarified in the
statement.
Exxon Mobil said that for now we should support
climate research to reduce uncertainties about global warming and pace policy
responses; promoting energy efficiency; deploying existing technologies that
reduce greenhouse gas emissions; and supporting research and development of new,
low-GHG (greenhouse gases) technologies.
