Exxon Mobil Corp. announced several new emissions targets and said it would begin publishing pollution related to customers’ use of its products for the first time; just days after activist investors criticized the oil giant for its environmental record.
Exxon will reduce the intensity of upstream emissions by as much as 20% by 2025, the Irving, Texas-based company said in a statement. The plan is “consistent” with the goals of the Paris Agreement, it said.
Exxon came under pressure from activist investors Engine No. 1 and D.E. Shaw & Co. last week for not acting quickly enough on emissions as well as for years of poor returns on capital employed.
Like Chevron Corp., Exxon’s climate goals are linked to reducing emissions intensity, which means less pollution per barrel of oil produced, as opposed to absolute emissions.
That leaves the company wiggle room to increase overall emissions in the future as crude output grows.
