Oil and gas mega-corporation ExxonMobil has done an immense amount of damage to our planet over the course of its existence — and judging by a recent acquisition the company made, it does not plan on stopping anytime soon.
What is happening?
The Guardian reports that Exxon just agreed to buy Pioneer Natural Resources, an oil and natural gas company that operates out of Texas' Permian Basin, for $59.5 billion.
The deal is the company's largest since Exxon's $75 billion merger with Mobil in 1998 and sends a clear message: ExxonMobil has no plans of transitioning away from its core business of producing dirty energy.
"ExxonMobil expanding is bad for people, communities, and our climate," David Tong, global industry campaign manager at nonprofit research and advocacy group Oil Change International, told The Guardian. "Further consolidation of the fossil energy market into a smaller number of mega companies will not secure energy access for people or help achieve climate targets."
Why is this concerning?
At a time when there is a massive worldwide shift where people are increasingly attempting to turn away from dirty energy sources like oil and methane and toward clean, renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, ExxonMobil is showing that its priorities are elsewhere.
"Coal, oil and gas … are by far the largest contributor to global climate change, accounting for over 75 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions and nearly 90 per cent of all carbon dioxide emissions," the United Nations writes.
Meanwhile, ExxonMobil has repeatedly disseminated disinformation in an attempt to downplay the massive negative impact its products have on the planet while also lobbying against new laws that would hasten the transition to clean energy.
What can be done about it?
While climate advocacy groups like the Environmental Defense Fund are calling out ExxonMobil's practices, Exxon and other dirty energy companies have shown time and again that they will not prevent themselves from polluting our environment — they must be prevented by the government.
Until politicians are able to resist its lobbying efforts and pass laws that make its practices unprofitable, ExxonMobil will continue to damage our planet.
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