ExxonMobil faces EU Parliament ban after no show at climate hearing

(EurActiv, 23 Mar 2019) ExxonMobil faces losing its lobby privileges at the European Parliament after the company failed to show up for the first hearing into climate change denial. EURACTIV’s media partner The Guardian reports.

ExxonMobil would become only the second multinational – after Monsanto – to lose access to MEPs, parliamentary meetings and digital resources if it loses a high-level vote expected by the end of April.

The oil giant publicly supports the Paris agreement but has drawn the ire of scientists, academics and environmentalists, who accuse it of peddling climate misinformation.

The ban request is being submitted by the Green MEP Molly Scott Cato. She said: “This is the company that denied the science, despite knowing the damage their oil exploitation was causing; which funded campaigns to block action on climate and now refuses to face up to its environmental crimes by attending today’s hearing. We cannot allow the lobbyists from such corporations free access to the corridors of the European Parliament. We must remove their badges immediately.”

ExxonMobil told organisers that it was prevented from participating in the hearing by “ongoing climate change-related litigation in the US”.

A company statement sent to the Guardian said: “We reject the false allegation that ExxonMobil suppressed scientific research on climate change. News reports that claim we reached definitive conclusions about the science of climate change decades before the world’s experts are simply not accurate and have long since been debunked.”

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EurActiv, 23 Mar 2019: ExxonMobil faces EU Parliament ban after no show at climate hearing