Having already soaked up a slew of international criticism over what is characterised as its healthy contribution to oil-related climate degradation, ExxonMobil, one of the world’s most powerful energy giants, was on Wednesday October 30, compelled to endure the sight and sounds of one of its most high-profile former bosses conceding that its longstanding posture notwithstanding, the company knew the climate change was not just a reality but that it was a real issue.
In a presentation in a New York courtroom where the company’s former Chief Executive Officer and for a brief period US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, took the witness stand to testify in a securities fraud trial that asserts that ExxonMobil knew for years that global warming was a significant threat, Tillerson declared that climate change was a real issue that was likely to “live with us for evermore.”
With the world’s leading energy companies, not least ExxonMobil seen as ‘leaders of the pack’ in terms of environmental degradation, the sight of a former ExxonMobil numero uno testifying in a US court under oath about the subject of climate change secured the considerable attention of the international media.
