Exxon's excuses

Thank you for your recent letter to ExxonMobil.
Date: Feb 14 2005, 11:39 PM

You recently wrote to ExxonMobil regarding our position on the Kyoto
Protocol. At ExxonMobil, we believe that good citizenship means helping to
meet the growing demand for energy in an economically, environmentally and
socially responsible manner.

ExxonMobil believes that climate change presents a significant risk to
society and to ecosystems. While studies must continue to better understand
these risks and possible consequences, we will continue to take tangible
actions and work with others to develop long-term solutions to minimize the
risk of climate change from energy use without preventing developing
nations from enjoying the benefits of economic growth.

Any approach to managing the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions must
take into account the reality that these emissions are the result of the
beneficial use of energy by people around the world. Today, 1.5 billion
people in these countries today do not have access to affordable energy for
heating, cooling, transportation or cooking. And in the next 20 years the
world?s population will increase by another 1.5 billion.

We opposed the Kyoto Protocol because it would do little to reduce the risk
of climate change and because the costs to society of the measures
necessary to reach its targets were huge. Other experts and government
leaders shared our concern that the Protocol was too costly to be workable
and too flawed to be effective. The likely failure of many European
countries to meet their Kyoto targets is a reflection of that reality. We
believe that these are rational and legitimate concerns which needed to be
addressed.

We continue to reduce our own emissions globally. Uncertainty is no reason
for not taking appropriate action now. Our actions include:

· Reducing carbon emissions at our refineries and chemical plants by
200 million metric tons over the last 25 years. This is a 37% improvement
in the efficiency of our operations.
· Expanding co-generation facilities at our refineries and chemical
plants, making electricity and steam twice as efficiently as separate
conventional power generation units. This reduces CO2 emissions by almost 7
million tons a year (the equivalent of taking 750,000 cars off the road).
· Transparent reporting of carbon dioxide emissions from our
operations.
· Supporting mandatory and consistent greenhouse gas emissions
reporting by all companies and working actively to develop standards for
such reporting.
· In addition, among private companies, ExxonMobil is the world's
leader in natural gas sales and reserves. Natural gas is an important
component in meeting the growing demand for energy.

So what is to be done if we wish to reduce greenhouse gas emissions?
Recognizing the need of developing countries to alleviate poverty and
increase incomes, we believe any long-term approach must accommodate
emissions growth from developing countries. The best of today's
technologies and innovative new ones for transportation and electricity
generation will be required to satisfy the dual goals of increased economic
development and reduced GHG emissions on a global basis.

We are supplementing our internal research with cooperative efforts with
numerous universities and research centers as well as through partnerships
with other corporations. For example, our efforts include joint research
with auto manufacturers on advanced fuel technologies such as hydrogen.
Our $100 million contribution to the Global Climate and Energy Project
(GCEP) at Stanford University demonstrates our commitment to support
innovative technological solutions for energy supply and use with lower
greenhouse gas emissions. GCEP is looking at the full spectrum of energy
resources and end uses including carbon sequestration, hydrogen, fuels
derived from plants and renewable energy. You can obtain additional
information from GCEP?s website at  http://gcep.stanford.edu/.

At ExxonMobil, we take industry's challenge of meeting the world's energy
needs very seriously. We encourage you to visit our website for additional
information on this and other important issues. Additional information on
our position and actions, including a report titled "A Report on Energy
Trends, Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Alternative Energy", can be found at
our website www.exxonmobil.com.

I hope these additional materials and comments will convey a greater
perspective on our views.

Sincerely,

Kenneth P. Cohen
Vice President -- Public Affairs
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