Exxon Mobil — behemoth of the fossil fuel diligence — has pledged to slew its net greenhouse gas emanation to zero 2050 , catching up with BP , Shell , and other rival who have made exchangeable promises to address their carbon paper footprints .

Perhaps you may be wondering how companies that make trillion of dollars selling fossil fuel would be adequate to of producing last - zero carbon discharge . Well , that ’s a very good doubt .

Exxon ’s net - zero aspiration wereannouncedearlier this workweek in the party ’s Advancing Climate Solutions 2022 Progress Report . In essence , the plan aims to keep down or offset emission produced through the extraction , refining , and merchant marine of their fossil oil and gas ( in Big Oil cant terms , this is known as scope 1 and scope 2 )

But — and it ’s ahugebut — the plan does not cover emission that result from the products they sell ( reach 3 ) , which accounts forthe immense majorityof the emission they are creditworthy for . In other word , the company will clean up its own performance to reach net - zero emissions by 2050 . However , they will continue to sell fossil fuel as per normal .

“ It is distinctive of Exxon to make a bountiful strain and dance about setting pledges to reach net - zero by 2050 while continuing to dilate their climate - wrecking operations around the earth , "   May Boeve , Chief Executive of environmental NGO350.org , told IFLScience .

" The terminal figure ‘ net zero ” is being used by the world ’s biggest polluters and government as a façade to hedge responsibleness , faulting burdens , disguise mood inactivity , and in some case even to scale up fogey fuel descent , burning at the stake and emissions . It get as no surprise that Exxon , who orchestrate a campaign of incertitude and deception for over 40 year , is now claiming to be part of the solution . If we are to tackle clime change we need to leave fossil fuels . "

Others are also not impressed .

“ ExxonMobil ’s discharge reduction pledge misses the mark and is too fiddling , too late , " add Kathy Mulvey , accountability safari theater director in the Climate and Energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists .

" This commitment solely covers operational emission , known as scope 1 and 2 , which make up only a small portion of the global warming emissions associated with a fossil fuel company ’s occupation . By not making any commitment to reduce the emissions that issue forth from burning oil and gas , known as scope 3 , ExxonMobil is shifting inculpation for the bulk of its emissions onto consumers who are using its product precisely as the ship’s company designate . "

burn fossil fuels — coal , natural gas , and petroleum — accounts for the majority of greenhouse gas emission in the US . According to theEnergy Information Administration , dodo fuel burning for energy account for 92 percent of the total carbon emissions in the US and 74 percent of all US greenhouse gasoline emissions .

Even beyond Exxon ’s limp pledge , experts arebecoming increasingly criticalof troupe and countries make vague"net - zero " pledgesand commitments . nett - zero emissions does not mean no expelling . rather , it does n’t involve any decrease of emissions and typically involve " offsetting " them by funding renewable energy projects , rejuvenate timberland , or carbon seizure technology , which is presently very hard to descale up .

Exxon splendidly ( or infamously)knew about climate changeand the wallop of burn off fossil fuel since the seventies and former ‘ 80s , but the company choose to obscure , downplay , and spin the information . Through the 1990s and 2000s , Exxon helped advance climate variety defence internationally . One tactic was totwist the language surroundingclimate change using ornateness and buzzwords you could still hear today used by climate skeptics : “ uncertainty , ” “ just a possibility , ” “ inconclusive grounds , ” and “ bias ” .

Now , it ’s announcing small future goals to deal this damage , experts say it ’s too piffling , too late .