Why did the U.S. give Exxon a $3 billion subsidy on the eve of climate talks?
Exxon Mobil has spent millions of dollars to sow confusion over the reality and urgency of global warming -- but that didn't stop the U.S. government from giving the Texas-based oil giant a $3 billion taxpayer-financed subsidy on the cusp of international climate talks.
On Dec. 3, just four days before the U.N. Climate Conference kicked off in Copenhagen, board members of the U.S. Export-Import Bank -- a federal agency that provides loans and guarantees to help U.S. companies secure foreign deals -- gave final approval to a plan to help Exxon finance a natural gas project in Papua New Guinea, Bloomberg reports. The company will use the funding to build a $15 billion pipeline and liquefaction plant, with the project design being handled by Houston-based KBR.
Exxon made more than $45 billion last year, making it the world's most profitable corporation. Between 1998 and 2005, the company funneled nearly $16 million to a networkof advocacy organizations working to confuse the public about globalwarming science, according to a reportfrom the Union of Concerned Scientists.
The U.S. currently spends an average of more than $10 billion in taxpayer money per year on subsidies to fossil fuel companies, compared with about $4 billion for renewable fuels, a recent study by the Environmental Law Institute found. And more than half of the U.S. subsidies for renewable fuels are going for corn-based ethanol, the climate effects of which remain controversial.
The amount that the U.S. gave Exxon earlier this month is roughly twice what it's now offering developing countries to help green their economies, according to Steve Kretzmann of Oil Change International. His organization is calling on President Obama to shift the subsidies it's now putting toward fossil fuels to climate finance instead.
"Does the Obama administration seriously expect other nations to believe that it can't find money to fund international efforts to build a clean energy economy and help vulnerable communities adapt to climate change when they're still giving billions to Exxon?" Kretzmann wrote in a recent post on his organization's blog.
The president played a key role in securing the recent pledge by the G20 group of major economies to end fossil fuel subsidies -- but he hasn't instructed agencies within his own administration to halt such financing, Kretzmann points out. U.S. climate and development coalitions recently called on the administration to immediately end fossil-fuel subsidies by agencies it oversees, including the U.S. Export-Import Bank.
Oil Change International is asking concerned citizens to send a letter to President Obama calling on him to shift U.S. funding away from greenhouse gas polluters toward climate solutions.
On Dec. 3, just four days before the U.N. Climate Conference kicked off in Copenhagen, board members of the U.S. Export-Import Bank -- a federal agency that provides loans and guarantees to help U.S. companies secure foreign deals -- gave final approval to a plan to help Exxon finance a natural gas project in Papua New Guinea, Bloomberg reports. The company will use the funding to build a $15 billion pipeline and liquefaction plant, with the project design being handled by Houston-based KBR.
Exxon made more than $45 billion last year, making it the world's most profitable corporation. Between 1998 and 2005, the company funneled nearly $16 million to a networkof advocacy organizations working to confuse the public about globalwarming science, according to a reportfrom the Union of Concerned Scientists.
The U.S. currently spends an average of more than $10 billion in taxpayer money per year on subsidies to fossil fuel companies, compared with about $4 billion for renewable fuels, a recent study by the Environmental Law Institute found. And more than half of the U.S. subsidies for renewable fuels are going for corn-based ethanol, the climate effects of which remain controversial.
The amount that the U.S. gave Exxon earlier this month is roughly twice what it's now offering developing countries to help green their economies, according to Steve Kretzmann of Oil Change International. His organization is calling on President Obama to shift the subsidies it's now putting toward fossil fuels to climate finance instead.
"Does the Obama administration seriously expect other nations to believe that it can't find money to fund international efforts to build a clean energy economy and help vulnerable communities adapt to climate change when they're still giving billions to Exxon?" Kretzmann wrote in a recent post on his organization's blog.
The president played a key role in securing the recent pledge by the G20 group of major economies to end fossil fuel subsidies -- but he hasn't instructed agencies within his own administration to halt such financing, Kretzmann points out. U.S. climate and development coalitions recently called on the administration to immediately end fossil-fuel subsidies by agencies it oversees, including the U.S. Export-Import Bank.
Oil Change International is asking concerned citizens to send a letter to President Obama calling on him to shift U.S. funding away from greenhouse gas polluters toward climate solutions.
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Sue Sturgis
Sue is the editorial director of Facing South and the Institute for Southern Studies.