Under pressure from shareholders, company promised eight years ago to stop funding climate denial – but financial and tax records tell a different story

ExxonMobil gave more than $2.3m to members of Congress and a corporate lobbying group that deny climate change and block efforts to fight climate change – eight years after pledging to stop its funding of climate denial, the Guardian has learned.

Climate denial – from Republicans in Congress and lobby groups operating at the state level – is seen as a major obstacle to US and global efforts to fight climate change, closing off the possibility of federal and state regulations cutting greenhouse gas emissions and the ability to plan for a future of sea-level rise and extreme weather.

Exxon channeled about $30m to researchers and activist groups promoting disinformation about global warming over the years, according to a tally kept by the campaign group Greenpeace. But the oil company pledged to stop such funding in 2007, in response to pressure from shareholder activists.

“In 2008 we will discontinue contributions to several public policy groups whose position on climate change could divert attention from the important discussion on how the world will secure energy required for economic growth in an environmentally responsible manner,” Exxon said in its 2007 Corporate Citizenship report.

But since 2007, the oil company has given $1.87m to Republicans in Congress who deny climate change and an additional $454,000 to the American Legislative Exchange Council (Alec), according to financial and tax records.

In a statement to the Guardian this week, Exxon spokesman Richard Keil reiterated: “ExxonMobil does not fund climate denial.”

Alec, an ultra-conservative lobby group, has hosted seminars promoting the long-discredited idea that rising carbon dioxide emissions are the “elixir of life”, and was behind legislation banning state planners in North Carolina from considering future sea-level rise.

Campaigners said Exxon’s support for members of Congress and lobby groups that deny climate change was at odds with the company’s public position that it is committed to acting on the threat posed by global warming.

“If they are going to be serious about what they say about believing in the science of climate change, they should actually take action and show they are genuine,” said David Turnbull, campaign director of Oil Change International, which compiled the data on Exxon contributions to members of Congress at the Guardian’s request.



A majority of Republicans in the House of Representatives and the Senate deny climate change or oppose action to fight climate change, according to the Center for American Progress.

Exxon’s beneficiaries in Congress include the Oklahoma senator Jim Inhofe, who called global warming a hoax, and who has received $20,500 since 2007, according to the Dirty Energy Money database maintained by Oil Change International.

Exxon funded the Mississippi senator Roger Wicker, who cast the single no vote earlier this year against a symbolic “sense of the Senate” resolution that climate change was real and not a hoax. The resolution passed 98-1. Wicker, who received $14,000 from Exxon, voted no.

Exxon also gave a total of $868,150 to Republican senators who voted against another symbolic resolution that human activity was a significant driver of climate change.

Each of the 49 Republican senators who voted no received at least $5,000 from Exxon, according to Oil Change figures.

Exxon has also continued to fund Alec, which works to block climate legislation in state legislatures, according to figures compiled by the Climate Investigations Center from the oil company’s own disclosures in its annual Worldwide Giving Reports and foundation tax filings.

Alec has for decades worked to block action on climate change, by drafting bills for state legislatures aimed at dismantling environmental regulations. The lobby group hosted a summit last December featuring a speaker who called carbon dioxide emissions “the elixir of life”.

“The ongoing rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide should be welcomed with opened arms,” Craig Idso, founder of the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change, told about 100 state legislators and corporate executives at the summit, according to InsideClimate News. Such claims have been dismissed in their entirety by scientists. The ultra-conservative Alec claims to support “free market environmentalism” and on its website accuses campaign groups of conflating this with climate denial. However, the website refers to climate change as a “historical phenomenon”, and states – contrary to fact – that its causes are a matter of continued debate. When asked directly, an Alec spokesman declined to say whether the lobby group saw climate change as a threat, and declined to say whether it stood by Idso’s views.

“Alec is a forum for the exchange of ideas and continuing education of state legislators. All viewpoints are welcome. Indeed,” Wilhelm Meierling, an Alec spokesman, said in an email. “Today, legislators want to learn from as many viewpoints as possible in order to make the best possible decision for the people they represent.”

He said Exxon did not underwrite the “continuing education workshop” with Idso.

Alec suffered a string of defections over its position on climate change during the last year, with companies such as Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, BP America, Microsoft, Facebook and Yahoo resigning their memberships.

Google accused the lobbying group of lying about climate change.

Exxon would not discuss its membership in Alec. However, the company said it was serious about confronting climate change and does not fund climate denial. In 2007, the oil company committed to ending its support for a network of think tanks and activist groups that deny the science underlying climate change or have worked to block action against climate change.

Keil, the Exxon spokesman, said in an email: “We are taking action in a range of ways – by reducing greenhouse gas emissions in our operations, helping consumers reduce their emissions, and by supporting research at leading US universities into both increased emissions reduction capability and research into alternative energy sources.”

Keil did not respond to specific questions about Exxon’s financial support for members of Congress who deny climate change, about its support for Alec, or about funding of the Idso seminar.

“I don’t believe we underwrite specific Alec functions, and, as should be abundantly clear from my past statements to you, we believe climate change is real and warrants action, we’re taking steps to address it, which I’ve also provided you voluminous detail on, and we don’t embrace the views of those who deny climate change or think it isn’t a serious matter,” Keil wrote in an email.

He went on: “Because The Guardian has abandoned objective journalism and has a clear agenda regarding climate change, it can no longer be trusted to do the job its readers have a right to expect, which is to provide accurate and unbiased coverage on this important topic.”

Corporate funding of climate denial is seen as a major barrier to US action on climate change – and dividing the US from Europe in addressing global warming.

“If Exxon was very clear about this, it would be a big help,” said Jeff Sachs, president of the Earth Institute and an adviser to the United Nations on climate change. “If this is what they believe, they ought to make it known and they ought to make it known very publicly because we have the entire Republican party in denial and fighting tooth and nail every step of the way against reasonable action. Exxon could make a very big difference.”