ExxonMobil Accused of Using Big Tobacco Tactics on Global Warming - 1/6/07

ExxonMobil Corp. gave $16 million to 43 ideological groups between 1998 and 2005 in an effort to mislead the public by discrediting the science behind global warming and climate change, the Union of Concerned Scientists asserted Wednesday.

The report by the advocacy group resembles similar claims by Britain's leading scientific academy. Last September, The Royal Society wrote the oil company asking it to halt support for groups that "misrepresented the science of climate change."

Many scientists say carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases from smokestacks and tailpipes are warming the atmosphere like a greenhouse, melting Arctic sea ice and alpine glaciers and disturbing the lives of plants and animals.

ExxonMobil called the scientists' report Wednesday "yet another attempt to smear our name and confuse the discussion of the serious issue of CO2 emissions and global climate change."

Dr. James McCarthy, a professor at Harvard University, said the company has sought to "create the illusion of a vigorous debate" about global warming.

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