The World Is Past ‘Peak Climate,’ but Exxon Lags Behind

The energy giant, once a resister, now pushes for draconian regulations on carbon emissions

By Allysia Finley. Excerpts:

"A model for this regulatory regime is California’s low-carbon fuel standard, which has driven refineries in the state to produce biofuels instead of gasoline and jacked up prices at the pump. Regulatory costs and market distortions would be much worse if such carbon-intensity standards were applied to more businesses"

"the prices of goods would increase, as with a carbon tax or tariff, but the beneficiaries wouldn’t be governments. They would be renewable producers and companies like Exxon that invest in “low carbon” technologies."

"Even with these subsidies [from the Inflation Reduction Act], they remain unprofitable because there isn’t a market for them. Why would a steelmaker swap cheap natural gas for costly hydrogen? Or an airline pay 10 times as much for fuel made from plants as from petroleum?" 

[Exxon] "has brought on a phalanx of climate activists such as Thaddeus Segal, who previously worked at the Environmental Defense Fund. Another recent hire, Brad Crabtree, served in the Biden Energy Department"

"as Exxon charges full speed ahead on its net-zero transition, asset managers and proxy advisers who abetted its boardroom coup are retreating from the climate fight."