Positions and principles

ExxonMobil uses various channels - including this report, press releases, exxonmobil.com and the Exxchange advocacy portal - to clearly and transparently articulate ExxonMobil’s policy positions. These positions inform and provide the basis for the Company’s lobbying and advocacy efforts.

In addition to our website and publication materials, the case studies below provide an illustration of our views on several important public policy issues that are currently being debated.

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

In our latest Advancing Climate Solutions report, we provide additional information on our 2050 net-zero ambition, 2030 emission-reduction plans, and the significant investments we are making to reduce our own and others’ greenhouse gas emissions. It also details our approach to advocating for clear and consistent policies that will be key to decarbonizing manufacturing, transportation, and power generation – which together, account for 80% of energy-related CO₂ emissions. 

Manufacturing

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

ExxonMobil is evaluating a number of carbon capture and storage opportunities that have the potential to be commercial with current technologies. However, to drive investment and deploy the technology at the pace and scale needed for society’s net-zero future, governments must establish durable regulatory and legal frameworks as well as additional incentives, similar to those available for other more established low-emission technologies. In general, low-carbon policies should be clear, cost-effective, technology-neutral, and aligned with free-market principles.

ExxonMobil supports a policy and regulatory framework for carbon capture and storage that would:

• Sustain long-term government support for research and development.
• Provide standards to ensure safe, secure and permanent 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 carbon capture and storage facilities.
• Provide access to CO₂ storage capacity owned or controlled by governments.
• Allow for trading of high-quality offsets generated from carbon capture and storage and low-carbon fuels, and carbon-removal projects.

ExxonMobil is actively engaging stakeholders and potential partners on these policy enablers that could unlock carbon capture and storage business opportunities.

ExxonMobil is also evaluating strategic investments to increase the use of hydrogen. We’re 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.

Hydrogen is a zero-carbon energy carrier that could serve as an affordable and reliable source of energy for heavy-duty trucking and energy-intensive industrial processes in the steel, refining and chemical sectors. 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.

A technology-neutral, emissions-intensity standard is one example of a policy approach that could significantly reduce CO₂ emissions in the manufacturing sector by setting targets based on life-cycle carbon intensity. An emissions-intensity standard would incentivize the necessary infrastructure and lower-emission options, including natural gas, renewables, carbon capture and storage, hydrogen, and negative-emission technologies such as bioenergy with CCS, and direct air capture.

Transportation

A holistic Low Carbon Transport policy that combines a market-based, technology-neutral fuel standard with a life-cycle vehicle CO₂ emission intensity standard could drive emission reductions across the entire vehicle fleet.

ExxonMobil advocates for a carbon intensity-based fuel standard approach 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 an action plan to reduce life-cycle emissions in the U.S. transportation sector.

Power Generation

A technology-neutral clean energy standard, or carbon intensity standard, could reduce CO₂ emissions in the electricity sector by setting targets based on carbon intensity and incentivizing necessary infrastructure and lower-emission options, including natural gas, renewables, carbon capture and storage 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 electricity sector. We continue to support engagement with the U.S. government on this issue.