Exxon Mobil Warming Up To Global Climate Issue

"There is a tension between those who believe in markets and those who act in markets," said CEI's president, Fred L. Smith Jr., who said he had not discussed the funding cutoff with Exxon Mobil. Businesses, he added, were "pragmatic organizations," not "ideological."

"The fact that we were supporters of some of those groups had become a real distraction to the issue at hand, which is how do we produce the energy the world needs without more greenhouse gas emissions," Cohen said this week.

But many critics say that the company's public statements played up doubts about climate change.

Exxon's 2006 report on "Tomorrow's Energy" said that "the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere poses risks that may prove significant for society and ecosystems." But on the same page, it said that "gaps in the scientific basis for theoretical climate models and the interplay of significant natural variability make it very difficult to determine objectively the extent to which recent climate change might be the result of human actions."

At the annual shareholder meeting last May, the testiest moment came when chief executive Rex W. Tillerson responded to a question about the company's skeptical stance on climate change in the face of a growing scientific consensus. Tillerson said that "scientific consensus" was an "oxymoron."

Now the oil giant says it has gotten a bad rap. It points to $100 million it has given to a climate change program at Stanford University. Cohen also cites the 40 papers Exxon's scientists have written about climate change for peer-reviewed journals.

"Exxon's scientists do excellent work," said Robert H. Socolow, a physics professor and co-director of a carbon mitigation project at Princeton University.

More climate data has also emerged. "There is increasing evidence that the earth's climate has warmed on average about 0.6 degrees centigrade in the last century," Cohen said in a recent e-mail. He said "the risks to society and ecosystems could prove to be significant, so despite the areas of uncertainty that do exist, it is prudent to develop and implement strategies that address the risks."

With the change in climate in state legislatures, Exxon Mobil and other major companies also face the prospect of a multiplicity of regulations if Congress doesn't act first. "One thing heavy industry cannot live with is a patchwork quilt of regulations," Cohen said.