Lobbying

ExxonMobil has a rigorous process to determine which public policy issues are of most importance to the Corporation. This process includes soliciting input from internal business lines, low carbon solutions, upstream, and product solutions, as well as corporate departments including human resources, law, tax, and public and government affairs. We also engage with a wide range of third parties – both individuals and organizations – to ensure external perspectives are fully considered and taken into account. ExxonMobil’s Vice President for Public and Government Affairs, who reports directly to the Chief Executive Officer, is responsible for the stewardship of identified key public policy issues, which guide the company’s lobbying efforts and political contributions.

Lobbying and political engagement are included as part of the Board’s stewardship of the company’s enterprise-risk framework. Each year, the Vice President for Public and Government Affairs presents the company’s political contributions, lobbying activities and lobbying expenditures to the full
Board, along with the Board’s Public Issues and Contributions Committee (PICC), which is comprised entirely of independent directors. The directors review the efforts and associated expenditures. In addition, in-depth reviews of the company’s priority issues are conducted by the Management Committee several times a year as part of the process. 

Direct lobbying

ExxonMobil acknowledges the risks of climate change and has long expressed support for the goals of the Paris Agreement. Our policy principles, outlined in this report, and associated lobbying are consistent with helping society achieve its ambition for a net-zero future. Our direct lobbying activities are aligned with limiting average global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, and include strong support for policies that will incentivize emission reductions.

An example of this is ExxonMobil’s strong support for policies that will incentivize large scale carbon capture and storage projects, a technology that both the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the International Energy Agency (IEA) agree is one of the most important low-carbon technologies required to achieve society’s climate goals at the lowest cost.

ExxonMobil has also lobbied in support of strong methane regulations, and publicly supported the U.S. and European Union’s Global Methane Pledge to reduce methane emissions by 30% below 2020 levels by 2030. We introduced a model regulatory framework for industry-wide methane regulations, and were the first company to file an application with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to use new technologies to detect methane emissions at oil and natural gas sites. We have advocated for policymakers globally to advance comprehensive, enhanced rules to reduce methane emissions in all phases of production.

ExxonMobil’s Lobbying Report, which we expect to update annually, provides additional detail of our direct and indirect climate-related lobbying activities at the federal, state and local level, as well as our grassroots lobbying communications. In addition, the report provides all lobbying expenses that have been reported to us by all 501c6 and 501c4 organizations that we support. This includes more than 100 organizations and 100% of the lobbying expenses incurred, as well as the issues lobbied.