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<H1>ExxonMobil cultivates global warming doubt -report</H1>
<DIV class=timestamp>Wed Jan 3, 2007 3:30pm ET<IMG id=ArticleHeadline_IPSegment
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<DIV class=timestamp>Rueters</DIV></FONT></DIV>
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<P>By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent</P>
<P>WASHINGTON, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Energy giant ExxonMobil borrowed tactics from
the tobacco industry to raise doubt about climate change, spending $16 million
on groups that question global warming, a science watchdog group said on
Wednesday.</P>
<P>"ExxonMobil (XOM.N: <A
href="http://stocks.us.reuters.com/stocks/overview.asp?symbol=XOM.N&WTmodLoc=InvArt-C1-ArticlePage1">Quote</A>, <A
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, <A
href="http://stocks.us.reuters.com/stocks/analystResearch.asp?symbol=XOM.N&WTmodLoc=InvArt-C1-ArticlePage1">Research</A>)
has manufactured uncertainty about the human causes of global warming just as
tobacco companies denied their product caused lung cancer," Alden Meyer of the
Union of Concerned Scientists said at a telephone news conference releasing the
report.</P>
<P>An ExxonMobil spokesman did not respond immediately to calls for comment.
</P>
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union, a nonprofit group based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, said ExxonMobil, the
world's biggest publicly traded corporation, had succeeded in parlaying a
relatively modest investment into unwarranted public doubt on findings that have
been overwhelmingly endorsed by mainstream science.</DIV></DIV>
<P>ExxonMobil did this by using the same methods used for decades by the U.S.
tobacco industry, the report said, including:</P>
<P>-- raising doubts about even the most undisputed science;</P>
<P>-- funding a variety of front organizations to create the appearance of a
broad platform; </P>
<P>-- recruiting a number of vocal climate change contrarians;</P>
<P>-- portraying its opposition to action as a quest for "sound science" rather
than business self-interest;</P>
<P>-- using its access to the Bush administration to shape federal
communications and policies on global warming.</P>
<P>TOBACCO TACTICS </P>
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<P>U.S. tobacco companies used these tactics for decades to hide the hazards of
smoking, and were found liable in federal court last year for violating
racketeering laws.</P>
<P>Global warming has been blamed for stronger hurricanes, more wildfires and
worse droughts. While there have been cycles of warming and cooling throughout
Earth's history, the last 30 years have seen a steep warming trend which most
scientists say is due to emission of so-called greenhouse gases by the burning
of fossil fuels in vehicles, factories and power plants.</P>
<P>ExxonMobil has funded legitimate scientific studies on climate change, the
watchdog report said, but noted it has also spent approximately $16 million
between 1998 and 2005 on 43 organizations that have cast doubt on the reality of
human-caused global warming.</P>
<P>The report said these have ranged from $30,000 for the group Africa Fighting
Malaria, which argues on its Web site against urgent action on climate change,
to $1.6 million to the American Enterprise Institute, a pro-business think tank
in Washington.</P>
<P>James McCarthy, professor of biological oceanography and director of the
Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University, noted a 2005 statement
issued by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and 10 science academies from
other countries, affirming that "climate change is now sufficiently clear to
justify nations taking prompt action."</P>
<P>"This report reveals for the first time the degree to which efforts to
exaggerate uncertainty in climate science produce non scientific reports
designed to cast doubt on published scientific climate studies have been
orchestrated by ExxonMobil," McCarthy said at the news conference.
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