AMSTERDAM MAY 13TH 2002: - As a week of protest against giant oil corporation Exxon gets underway, Greenpeace in the USA
today will launch a report detailing the company's history of deliberate efforts to sabotage international action on
climate change.
Exxon is the world's biggest oil corporation and is marketed as Mobil, Exxon-Mobil and Esso in different parts of the
world. At the beginning of May, Greenpeace called for an international week of action against Exxon to protest against
its continued interference in both international and US climate policy. Activists from around the globe have indicated
their intention to send Exxon a message this week that the company is not going to get away with its outrageous
behaviour.
"This week, Exxon can expect a variety of protests from at least three continents, including its homebase, North
America," said Greenpeace climate campaigner Stephanie Tunmore.
"We are expecting a coalition of different social, environmental and human rights groups, as well as concerned
individuals to join Greenpeace in this week of protest. While we aren't going to spoil the surprise for Exxon by saying
what form these protests might take, the company won't miss the message - stop interfering in climate politics."
"Exxon's stance on global warming can be summed up in three words: deny, deceive and delay," said Tunmore. "Its
propaganda machine has been hard at work for more than a decade spewing out junk science, fabricating doubts, and buying
support of politicians from the local level all the way to the White House."
The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a group made up of thousands of the world's leading scientists
and scientific bodies, has found that global warming is man-made, it will have severe environmental and health impacts
if left unchecked, and it is getting worse. Over the next century, a warming of just a few degrees will lead to sea
level rise, chaotic weather patterns, agricultural loss and the spread of diseases.
By rejecting the Kyoto Protocol a year ago and proffering an alternative plan on global warming that echoes the views of
Exxon, the White House is recycling a version of the failed voluntary plan offered by the first President Bush more than
a decade ago. The Greenpeace report to be launched in the USA today details the close connections between President Bush
and Exxon that date back to the President's days in Texas.
"ExxonMobil's finger prints are all over the Bush Administration's stance on global warming," said Tunmore. "Bush global
warming policy smells a lot like Exxon."
ENDS