Positions and principles

Explore ExxonMobil’s advocacy positions and principles for driving a lower-emission future through innovative technologies and sustainable policies.

Report

4 min read

Positions and principles

ExxonMobil uses various channels - including this report, press releases, exxonmobil.com and the Exxchange advocacy portal - to clearly and transparently articulate its policy positions. These positions inform and provide the basis for the Company’s lobbying and advocacy efforts. We provide greater details around several of our lobbying priorities below.

Climate policy principles

ExxonMobil has supported the goals of the Paris Agreement since its inception. We have consistently voiced support for U.S. participation in the agreement and actively engaged with government officials to encourage keeping the U.S. a party to it.

In our Advancing Climate Solutions report, we provide information on the significant investments we are making to reduce our own and others’ greenhouse gas emissions. The report also details our approach to advocating for clear and consistent policies that will be key to decarbonizing manufacturing, commercial transportation, and power generation – which together, account for approximately 80% of energy-related CO₂ emissions.

Driving a lower-emission future

Experts agree that a wide variety of lower-emission technologies are crucial – even under a multitude of transition pathways – including carbon capture and storage (CCS), hydrogen, and lower-emission fuels, among others. ExxonMobil supports policies that promote and regulate these technologies.

Other technologies that enable renewable power electrification, like wind, solar and batteries, will also be necessary for a lower-emission future, and we recognize the role they can play in reducing emissions within our own operations.

In fact, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), ExxonMobil is in the top five oil and gas purchasers of renewable power, securing more than one gigawatt of renewable capacity to date. ExxonMobil will continue to grow our low carbon power portfolio as we progress our 2030 emission-reduction plans and our 2050 net-zero ambition.

We regularly review market conditions, technological advancements, and policy changes to adjust our lobbying efforts accordingly. When deciding how and when to lobby on energy and environmental topics, ExxonMobil considers factors including cost-effectiveness, risk-benefit, competing policy priorities, and the company’s overall business strategy.

Manufacturing

For the manufacturing sector, ExxonMobil’s focus is on advancing CCS and hydrogen. The International Energy Agency and the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have identified both hydrogen and CCS as vital to reducing emissions associated with manufacturing and heavy industry.

Carbon Capture and Storage

ExxonMobil has captured more human-made CO₂ than any other company on the planet, and we’re expanding our long-term storage capacity in anticipation of market developments. We have the largest owned and operated CO₂ pipeline network in the U.S., and we have agreements with major industrial customers to transport and store up to 6.7 million metric tons of CO₂ per year, subject to government permitting. No other company has more volume under contract.

To drive investment and deploy the technology at the pace and scale needed for a net-zero future, governments must establish durable regulatory and legal frameworks as well as additional incentives, like those available for other more established low-emission technologies. In general, policies should be clear, cost-effective, technology-neutral, and market-based.

ExxonMobil supports a policy and regulatory framework for CCS that would:

Sustain long-term government support for research and development.
Provide standards to ensure safe and secure CO₂ storage.
Allow for fit-for-purpose CO₂ injection well design standards.
Provide legal certainty for pore space ownership.
Ensure a streamlined permitting process for CCS facilities.
Provide access to CO₂ storage capacity owned or controlled by governments.
Help develop carbon credits based on life cycle analysis of carbon-removal projects.

ExxonMobil is actively engaging stakeholders and potential partners on these policy enablers that could expand CCS opportunities.

Hydrogen

ExxonMobil is planning to develop the world’s largest low-carbon hydrogen facility, that will convert U.S.-produced natural gas into virtually carbon-free hydrogen with approximately 98% of the associated CO₂ to be captured and stored. The facility is expected to be capable of producing nearly 10% of the U.S. National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap’s goal of 10 million metric tons of hydrogen per year by 2030¹. A final investment decision is subject to necessary regulatory permits and supportive government policy. This includes the expansion of the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act’s 45V tax credit to recognize lower-carbon intensity natural gas as a hydrogen feedstock.

Hydrogen could serve as a reliable source of energy for heavy-duty trucking and energy-intensive industrial processes in the steel, refining and chemical sectors. ExxonMobil is already one of the largest hydrogen companies in the world, producing and consuming more than 1 million metric tons annually in our refining and chemical operations. We are participating in cross-industry groups to identify the technologies and policies required to deploy hydrogen at scale. For example, existing natural gas transmission infrastructure has the potential to be used for hydrogen transport. To rapidly develop a hydrogen economy, additional technology-neutral policy is required.

ExxonMobil’s advocacy for carbon capture and storage policies

ExxonMobil strongly supports policies that advance the research, development, and deployment of CCS technologies and advocates for policies that encourage the use of CCS.

CCS is proven technology that could help hard-to-decarbonize industries significantly reduce their emissions. It’s also one of the few technologies that can achieve negative CO₂ emissions when combined with bio-energy or direct air capture.

ExxonMobil has extensive experience with carbon capture. However, CCS requires significant investment, long-term commercial commitments, and supportive stable policy.

Many environmental groups inappropriately believe that policymakers should not incentivize CCS technology, despite its proven effectiveness and the urgent need for action to reduce emissions. This belief often leads to advocacy campaigns that oppose CCS policies or misrepresent the technology.

In 2021, 500 organizations across the U.S. and Canada raised concerns about government support for CCS in an open letter. These groups have worked at various levels - state, federal, and international - to coordinate their efforts.

ExxonMobil is actively involved in advocacy efforts to promote policies that support CCS technology. We support relevant policies through participation in the Zero Emissions Platform (ZEP), which advises the European Union on carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) under the Strategic Energy Technologies Plan. We are also part of several regional and local groups that promote deployment of CCS and hydrogen technologies, such as the European Clean Energy Hydrogen Alliance, Asia CCUS Network, Center for Houston’s Future, Carbon Capture Storage Association (CCSA), and Hydrogen UK.

Transportation

A holistic low-carbon transport policy that combines a market-based, technology-neutral fuel standard with a life-cycle vehicle CO₂ intensity emission standard could drive emission reductions across the entire vehicle fleet. ExxonMobil advocates for a carbon intensity-based fuel standard that can also be extended to the harder-to-decarbonize aviation and marine sectors. The company was a lead participant in developing the American Petroleum Institute’s policy framework that includes actions to reduce life-cycle emissions in the U.S. transportation sector.

To meet projected growth in EVs, the world will need a lot more lithium. ExxonMobil plans to become a leading supplier of U.S.-produced lithium, using a modern process that has significantly less environmental impact than traditional mining. Our efforts can help automakers meet the world’s evolving transportation needs while also working to reduce emissions.

Power generation

A technology-neutral clean-energy standard, or carbon intensity standard, could reduce CO₂ emissions in the power sector by setting targets based on carbon intensity and incentivizing necessary infrastructure and lower-emission options, including natural gas, renewables, CCS and negative-emission technologies such as bioenergy with CCS, and direct air capture. ExxonMobil participated in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s development of policy principles to underpin a U.S. clean energy standard for the power sector. We continue to support engagement with the U.S. government on this issue.

_FOOTNOTES:

_{¹ https://www.hydrogen.energy.gov/docs/hydrogenprogramlibraries/pdfs/us-national-clean-hydrogen-strategy-roadmap.pdf}