A visit to ExxonMobil’s website today to see the company’s messaging on climate solutions gives you an interesting vibe. The company describes itself as delivering “on both sides” of the energy equation “meeting society’s needs for energy…and reducing emissions.” It highlights $20 billion in investments between 2022 and 2027 to achieve lower emissions for its operations as well as those of other companies with which it deals.
ExxonMobil’s numerous carbon management projects include post-combustion carbon capture, direct air capture (DAC), carbon storage, and fuel cell development. What are the results of this flurry of activity and work? The company claims to have captured and stored more CO2 than its competitors. The total amounts to 120 million tons representing 40% of “all the anthropogenic CO2 that has ever been captured.”
What ExxonMobil doesn’t state is that half of this captured CO2 is sold to other fossil fuel operators to enhance oil recovery from old wells.
What it also doesn’t state is that the company continues to emit far more CO2 than what has been captured. This is data it keeps under wraps.