Exxon Mobil is the world leader in climate change denial, arguing that too much remains unknown about the threat of climate change and how to address it. It has spent millions on peddling claims about global warming that have been debunked by all but a tiny number of scientists, infuriating everyone else concerned.

Shareholders of both Exxon Mobil and Chevron recently rejected an unusually large series of resolutions aimed at encouraging the companies to take stronger actions to battle climate change. However, a chink has appeared in the armour. At Exxon Mobil they also voted in favor of a rule that could make it easier for minority shareholders to nominate outsiders to the company’s board, a potential victory for environmentalists

Shareholders heard from several scientists who urged the company to take the threat of climate change more seriously. In response, Rex W. Tillerson, Exxon Mobil’s president and chairman, is quoted as saying:    “The reality is there is no alternative energy source known on the planet or available to us today to replace the pervasiveness of fossil fuel in our global economy and in our very quality of life, and I would go beyond that and say our very survival. So it is a judgment of balance between future climatic events which could prove to be catastrophic but are unknown … and the more immediate needs of humanity today,” he said. (Adapted from an NPR web article, May 2016)

Instead of paying scientists to find bogus reasons for trashing climate change science, Exxon Mobil could long ago, with their vast resources, have dominated the now-burgeoning renewables industry. We will always need some oil for engineering purposes, but Exxon and Big Oil, as ruthless, powerful political manipulators will eventually go, un-mourned, the way of the coal industry.