Oliegiganten Exxon mødte embedsmænd fra Europa-Kommissionen, kun få uger før EU annoncerede sin nye Green Deal, viste dokumenter fredag (6. marts), som en observatør beskrev som ”et forsøg på at påvirke EU´s grønne dagsorden.
Selvom der ikke er noget, der tyder på, at hverken Exxon eller Kommissionens embedsmænd handlede forkert, giver dokumentet sjælden indsigt i, hvordan energiselskaber er involveret i lovgivningsprocessen, på måder, der effektivt kan bremse politikker, der er designet til at begrænse CO2-emissioner.
Det skriver Euroactiv:
En Exxon spokesman told AFP it fully complies with the EU’s Transparency Register disclosing meetings between officials and industry members, and that it supports the Paris climate deal, which calls for capping global warming below two degrees Celsius.
The Commission on Wednesday (4 March) unveiled a green growth law mandating member states to achieve “climate neutrality” – net zero greenhouse gas emissions – by 2050.
It would give the EU executive new powers to impose emission targets on member state governments, a measure welcomed by greens and some activists.
Just weeks earlier, documents show three unnamed Exxon representatives met with a member of the team of Frans Timmermans, the Commission’s top climate change official.
Notes show Exxon’s members apparently pushed for a change in EU vehicles emissions regulations, saying: “Tail pipe emission legislation should be substituted with power plant to wheel emission regulation.”
They also show Exxon representatives pushed for “lower carbon liquid fuels” such as liquid hydrogen and biofuels derived from plant matter – both of which Exxon aims to produce – to “remain very much in the picture”.
EU regulations mandate that manufacturers begin to green their vehicle fleet, measured on the basis of exhaust pollution – around 60% of a vehicle’s lifetime emissions.
Ed Collins, InfluenceMap’s director of corporate climate lobbying, said Exxon was trying to stave off emissions reductions by reframing the environmental damage caused by burning gasoline and diesel.
“It would take the pressure off the auto sector in the push towards electric vehicles,” he told AFP. “If you’ve still got liquid fuel in the mix then obviously that’s useful to Exxon as their market is liquid fuels.”
An Exxon spokesman told AFP: “We have a responsibility to our customers, employees, communities and stakeholders to engage in a public policy dialogue that impacts our business.”
Collins however pointed to other details in the notes, including Exxon officials advocating hydrogen fuel and largely untested carbon-capture technologies as part of the climate plan.
“They’re selling the continuation of infrastructure and investment in fossil fuels on the promise of technologies we don’t know are going to be viable,” he said.
An EU spokesman said it was the Commission’s role “to listen to the views of diverse stakeholders as it formulates new policies.”
InfluenceMap last year said Exxon had spent $41 million annually since the 2015 Paris deal – which aims to limit temperature rises by slashing emissions – on lobbying against climate legislation, something Exxon denied.
