ExxonMobil's four decades of climate science research

ExxonMobil has supported development of climate science in partnership with governments and academic institutions for nearly 40 years. 

In this article

We conduct that work in an open and transparent way. Examples include funding climate modeling at MIT, development and commercialization of lower-emission solutions at Stanford University and working with the U.S. Department of Energy.

ExxonMobil’s four decades of research in climate science has resulted in nearly 150 publicly available papers, including more than 50 peer-reviewed publications, and nearly 300 patents for cutting-edge technological advances in emissions reductions and other related applications. Our scientists have been involved in the forefront of climate research, understanding and working with the world’s leading experts on climate.

Our scientists have participated in the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change since its inception in 1988. The IPCC assesses the scientific, technical and socioeconomic information relevant for understanding the risk of climate change. ExxonMobil scientists have been selected by the IPCC as authors of the past four major assessment reports, and National Research Council boards and committees covering global change.

Read more of ExxonMobil's perspectives on climate below.

Blogs

The fun of conducting breakthrough science

In conjunction with the release of a peer-reviewed paper in the journal Nature Biotechnology, ExxonMobil and Viridos (formerly Synthetic Genomics, Inc.) announced a truly significant development in algae research with the potential to transform energy production from biofuels.

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Trending to lower emissions

Today, natural gas is ascendant, thanks to plentiful new supplies from America’s shale regions. It is expected to provide 34 percent of the country’s power this summer, more than any other source.

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Darren Woods: The future of energy — opportunities and challenges

We all generally share similar aspirations: jobs and good health, comfortable and safe places to live and a clean environment. What’s also true, and too often overlooked, is the vital role that energy and energy technologies play in fulfilling these shared aspirations.

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Piloting the future of energy

FuelCell Energy, Inc. and ExxonMobil announced the selection of the James M. Barry Electric Generating Station, located near Mobile in Bucks, Alabama, as the site of a pilot project to test fuel-cell technology for capturing carbon dioxide.

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ExxonMobil’s collegiate collaboration

ExxonMobil is partnering with two leading American universities to develop cutting-edge energy technologies.

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Credit natural gas for falling emissions, rising economy

New data from the federal government’s Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program offers interesting insights into the shale revolution and the resulting benefits Americans are seeing.

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Focus on Technology: Hatching innovation in Silicon Valley

A nonprofit consortium involving ExxonMobil and other technology and academic leaders known as Activation Energy announced its support to enhance the energy entrepreneurship ecosystem at Cyclotron Road, the early-stage energy-technology program begun at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. 

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Focus on Technology: Reversing to move forward

Collaboration between researchers at ExxonMobil and the Georgia Institute of Technology has led to a potential breakthrough that, if proven at scale, could reduce energy consumption in plastics manufacturing.

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Healthy, honest dialogue needed to make real progress

When we think about the two great challenges of providing energy for a growing world while at the same time reducing emissions, we at ExxonMobil focus on marrying thoughtful public policy to innovative technology development.

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Focus on Technology: Hook Em, Horns

Today, we announced a $15 million Leadership-level investment from ExxonMobil to formalize our relationship with the Energy Institute at the University of Texas to study and pursue transformational energy innovations.

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Focus on Technology: Energy efficiency

For all the talk about energy sources, it’s easy to overlook what will likely make the single biggest contribution to meeting global energy needs in coming decades: energy efficiency.

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Digging deep on our fuel cell research

We’re excited about a new partnership to research a novel way to capture carbon that could end up making a significant difference in curbing greenhouse gas emissions.

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Focus on Technology: The old college try

Some of our most promising and forward-looking scientific research is done in conjunction with many of the nation’s elite universities.

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Focus on Technology: Using cogeneration to reduce emissions

Running large refining and chemical operations to create the products consumers rely upon generates tremendous amounts of excess heat. To ExxonMobil engineers, that lost heat offers opportunity.

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Successful dialogue at annual meeting

At our 134th annual shareholders’ meeting we were glad to be able to discuss the corporation’s position on climate change, and the search for solutions — most notably the various technologies ExxonMobil is developing that are designed to lower emissions and mitigate climate-change risks.

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The truth about ExxonMobil and climate change

For a few months now, ExxonMobil has been hit by a series of politically motivated legal attacks related to our climate research. Amid all the tumult, it’s easy to lose track of the most elemental — if not the most important — facts about our corporation’s position on climate change.

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Ambitions and fuel cells

Yesterday ExxonMobil announced details of an agreement with FuelCell Energy, Inc. that is nothing if not ambitious: Our joint research aims to stop greenhouse gas emissions from electric generating power plants.

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Focus on Technology: Improving the internal combustion engine

ExxonMobil has long worked with automotive partners to study combustion fundamentals and to develop technologies to improve the internal combustion engine.

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Signing the Paris accord a step forward

Pledges are helpful, but they are just a start. The real test will lie in how they are carried out in the years to come. With that in mind, it is worth pointing out that policies designed to address climate change need to be clear and guard against duplicative, overlapping, and conflicting regulations.

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The coordinated attack on ExxonMobil

A coordinated attack on ExxonMobil has taken place in recent days through the publication of a number of news reports that offer an eye-opening look at a campaign of misinformation about ExxonMobil’s history of climate research.

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ExxonMobil responds to state AGs

Statement by Suzanne McCarron, ExxonMobil Vice President of Public and Government Affairs.

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Despite what divestment activists say, ExxonMobil is searching for climate solutions

ExxonMobil recognizes the risks posed by climate change. We believe that everyone — including oil and gas companies — should be engaged in meaningful action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

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Focus on Technology: Finding a way to capture carbon

Finding ways to capture carbon dioxide emitted from burning fossil fuels in power plants and other industrial operations — better and more affordable ways — could be a significant help in the bid to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

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Focus on Technology: Advanced biofuels

It often surprises people to learn that a “Big Oil” company like ExxonMobil is investigating the promise of alternatives like biofuels. But we are.

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Significant differences of opinion

There are deep, fundamental differences of opinion that exist between our critics and us that put some needed context around the charges made about ExxonMobil and our role in the world.

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Statement on Paris climate agreement

ExxonMobil supports the work of the Paris signatories, acknowledges the ambitious goals of this agreement and believes the company has a constructive role to play in developing solutions.

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ExxonMobil and the carbon tax

Exxon's position on the COP 21 climate conference and our long-standing support for a revenue-neutral carbon tax.

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ExxonMobil and the U.N. climate talks

As leaders gather in Paris this month for the United Nations summit designed to address climate change, ExxonMobil offers its support and encouragement to governments in their efforts to reach an effective and clear international agreement to manage climate change risks.

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Fox guarding the henhouse at Columbia

This isn’t a disagreement about energy policy or education philosophy — this is a case of intentional misrepresentation of key facts by a Columbia journalism team.

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Washington Post — Half right, half wrong

Half right and half wrong. That describes a recent editorial in the Washington Post about ExxonMobil’s climate-related research. 

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A history lesson for InsideClimate News

The activists at InsideClimate News are up with another story that fundamentally misrepresents ExxonMobil’s climate research.

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More backtracking by InsideClimate News

InsideClimate News continues to back away from the main theme of its discredited stories that mischaracterized ExxonMobil’s history of climate research.

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“We never said Exxon stopped its research” … Oh, really?

In contesting charges that they cherry-picked from ExxonMobil documents and misrepresented facts to give a distorted picture of our corporation’s climate-science efforts InsideClimate News is only digging a deeper hole for itself. The result is to further expose the inaccuracy of their reports.

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A case for readers to read for themselves

In its reportage on climate change research at ExxonMobil, the Los Angeles Times made a very telling editorial decision.

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When it comes to climate change, read the documents

Read the documents InsideClimate News cites that purportedly prove  conspiracy on ExxonMobil’s part to hide our climate science findings.

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ExxonMobil’s commitment to climate science

Some recent critics of ExxonMobil, notably Bill McKibben and Naomi Oreskes, are expressing surprise to hear that ExxonMobil helped pioneer research into climate change science in the 1970s and ’80s.

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Setting the record straight on climate

A recent attack piece about ExxonMobil by Andrew Behar published by The Hill is way off base on several fundamental points and, in reality, does nothing more than repeat discredited claims by anti-oil and gas activists.

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ExxonMobil on carbon policy and business planning

Recently there has been media interest in how large corporations like ExxonMobil take into account the potential for new climate change regulations when drawing up future business plans. Here is our corporation’s view on the topic.

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Peer-reviewed publications

Explore the more than 50 peer-reviewed publications that have resulted from ExxonMobil’s four decades of climate science research.

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