Exxon spends 1% of record profits on alternative energy David Edwards and Stephen C. Webster

Published: Thursday July 31, 2008





Print This Email This On Thursday, Exxon announced its largest profits ever: $11.68 billion in the second quarter of 2008. Yet with all that money, says ABC's Good Morning America, the oil giant only spent 1 percent on alternative energy sources. "Today's announcement of Exxon's massive profits continues what has been a very good year for big oil," reports ABC. "Just how good? Well, it's expected to be even better than last year, when the combined sales of the top five oil companies added up to $1.5 trillion. That's greater than the GDP of Canada." With oil prices up nearly 50 percent from the same time last year, and demands for alternative, renewable sources of energy on the rise, what is Exxon doing with its record-breaking, windfall profits? ABC News "crunched the numbers." "They're probably spending more on the advertising than they are actually spending on the actual research," said Bernard Picchi, a senior managing director with Wall Street Access. "Exxon has publicly said that it is not in the renewable energy business, but rather focused on oil and gas," said the report. "So it should be no surprise that out of the five largest oil companies, Exxon spent just 1 percent of its $41 billion in profits last year on alternative energy sources." Among the other oil giants, said the report, British Petroleum spent the most on renewable energy in 2007: some 2.9 percent of its $21 billion profit. "What the spent on alternative energy was just a drop in the bucket," said Picchi. "Probably about $2 billion. This video is from ABC's Good Morning America, broadcast July 31, 2008.

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