On Tuesday, oil giant Exxon Mobil announced that it aims to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. More specifically, it has the "ambition" to reach net-zero emission from its operations within the next 28 years. "We've got a line of sight," Exxon's chief executive, Darren Woods, said in an interview with the New York Times. "By the end of this year, 90 percent of our assets will have road maps to reduce emissions and realize this net-zero future." The plan builds on an announcement Exxon made last month that said the company is aiming for net-zero emissions from its operations in the Permian Basin by 2030.
Exxon follows in the footsteps of Shell, BP, and Total — European oil companies that announced net-zero climate plans in 2020 — and U.S.-based Chevron, which unveiled a net-zero plan last year. With the exception of Shell, which has been ordered by a Dutch court to reduce its global emissions 45 percent by 2030, oil companies are making these pledges to get cleaner voluntarily in response to pressure from the public and investors and to market forces that have made renewable energy generally cheaper than fossil fuels. Exxon, which concealed evidence that its products caused climate change in the 1970s, has been slow to hop on the net-zero bandwagon. Internal documents leaked to Bloomberg Green in 2020 showed that the company expected its operational emissions to increase through 2025.
