Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's biggest gasoline maker, spent $15.8 million since 1998 funding groups that reject scientific evidence of a human contribution to global warming, according to a report Wednesday by the Union of Concerned Scientists.
"ExxonMobil has manufactured uncertainty about the human causes of global warming just as tobacco companies denied their product caused lung cancer," said Alden Meyer, the Union of Concerned Scientists' 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."
Britain's leading scientific academy, The Royal Society, asked Exxon to halt support for groups it claimed "misrepresented" the science of climate change.
Researchers from Union of Concerned Scientist consider that the burning of oil and other fossil fuels results in additional atmospheric carbon dioxide that blankets the Earth and traps heat. The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere has increased greatly over the last century and global temperatures are rising as a result.
"ExxonMobil needs to be held accountable for its cynical disinformation campaign on global warming," said Meyer. "Consumers, shareholders and Congress should let the company know loud and clear that its behavior on this issue is unacceptable and must change."
Exxon Mobil Corporation is committed to being the world's premier petroleum and petrochemical company
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