Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Occidental Petroleum will join global energy giants as the first US energy companies to join the oil and gas climate initiative.

Thirty percent

The US oil giants are joining a coalition that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the oil and gas industry. The initiative was launched in 2014 and currently has 10 members, pledge to cut emissions, boost energy efficiency and contribute to a $1 billion fund to support clean tech and business models. The move is a reversal for the oil companies, which stayed away from the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative when it was first formed in 2014. However the European oil majors Total, Royal Dutch Shell and BP did join, as well as state oil companies Saudi Aramco, Mexico's Pemex and China's CNPC. With the US additions, the initiative's members now account for thirty percent of worldwide oil and gas output, according to the group statement.

Change of direction?

Exxon Chairman and CEO Darren Woods said in a statement, ‘it will take the collective efforts of many in the energy industry and society to develop scalable, affordable solutions that will be needed to address the risks of climate change.’ In recent years, Exxon has been criticised in a series of investigations that revealed the company's scientists warned internally about the dangers of climate change while publicly downplaying the risks. This led to the #ExxonKnew campaign and a lawsuit by state attorneys general alleging Exxon misled investors. Exxon called the #ExxonKnew movement ‘an orchestrated campaign that seeks to delegitimize ExxonMobil and misinterpret our climate change position and research,’ but has now seemed to have changed direction.