"Rex Tillerson's Record on Climate Change: Rhetoric vs. Reality"

"As Exxon's chief executive, Trump's secretary of state choice walked a fine line between Exxon's support of denial and accepting mainstream science."

"After Donald Trump selected Rex Tillerson for secretary of state, ExxonMobil's chief executive was lauded by some in the media and climate policy experts as a possible moderating voice on climate change in a Trump administration where denial is shaping up to be orthodoxy. As chief of the nation's diplomacy, Tillerson will shepherd U.S. climate efforts abroad.

Many cited Exxon's acceptance that climate change poses significant risks, support of the Paris climate agreement and a carbon tax as reasons for their guarded optimism. But Exxon's actions and Tillerson's own off-the-cuff comments belie the official communications.  The company has a long record of funding climate denial (which continued under Tillerson) and is under investigation for potentially defrauding investors by failing to tell them that it knew decades ago of the risks climate change posed to the bottom line. Tillerson has also overseen an expansion of Exxon's investment in developing Alberta's tar sands, some of the most carbon-heavy fuel in the world.  

InsideClimate News has spent almost two years looking into Exxon's workings and has written dozens of stories on the company. Here's what we've learned about Tillerson and Exxon."

Neela Banerjee reports for InsideClimate News December 22, 2016.