Exxon Mobil sustainability score: 15/100

ExxonMobil's own Operated Basis performance data (2026 Advancing Climate Solutions report) discloses Scope 1 of 92 million metric tonnes CO₂e and Scope 2 (location-based) of 8 million metric tonnes CO₂e, totalling 99 million metric tonnes CO₂e for FY2024. Environmental Resources Management CVS (ERM CVS) provided independent limited assurance confirming the 2024 GHG inventory meets ISO 14064-3 expectations. Methodology follows GHG Protocol and Ipieca/API/IOGP Sustainability Reporting Guidance (5th edition, 2025), with multi-year historical data published. Score is capped at 6 because assurance is limited-level only (not reasonable assurance), and the company explicitly notes emissions data are estimates with significant uncertainty due to methodology variations. No market-based Scope 2 granularity sufficient to distinguish material renewable procurement was identified.

ExxonMobil provides partial Scope 3 estimates using Ipieca Category 11 methodology for crude and natural gas production, estimated at approximately 630 million metric tonnes CO₂e from use of sold products (FY2024, per Sustainability Magazine's analysis of ExxonMobil's 2024 Advancing Climate Solutions Report). This represents over 85% of the company's total footprint. However, ExxonMobil's CEO has explicitly and publicly stated the company will not set a Scope 3 reduction target, arguing doing so would increase global emissions by displacing production to higher-intensity competitors. The company does not publish a comprehensive, methodology-consistent Scope 3 Category 11 figure for the combustion of refined products (fuels), nor does it disclose Scope 3 across all 15 Ipieca categories. No supplier engagement programme addressing Scope 3 reduction was identified. The disclosure is partial and no reduction pathway exists for the dominant emissions category.

ExxonMobil's Scope 1+2 operational emissions declined from 120 million metric tonnes CO₂e (2016 baseline) to 99 million metric tonnes CO₂e by 2024 — a 17.5% absolute reduction, primarily through flaring reduction (60% lower flaring intensity 2016–2024) and operational efficiency improvements. This is a genuine, multi-year absolute reduction and is third-party verified for 2024. The Pioneer Natural Resources acquisition closed in May 2024, but no post-acquisition increase is visible in the reported figures: ExxonMobil's own performance data puts Scope 1 at 92Mt in 2024 and 90Mt in 2025, with Scope 1+2 at 99Mt and 97Mt respectively. Scope 3 (the overwhelming majority of total footprint at ~630Mt+) has no reduction target and no disclosed trajectory. The company plans to grow LNG production. Score of 3 reflects the real but partial Scope 1+2 absolute reduction, offset by the absence of any Scope 3 trajectory.

ExxonMobil is not a member of RE100 and no renewable energy transition strategy for its own operations was identified in the 2024 or 2025 Sustainability Reports. The company is among the world's largest energy consumers, operating refineries, chemical plants, and upstream oil and gas assets that depend overwhelmingly on fossil fuel energy. No percentage renewable electricity figure was disclosed in accessible public data. ExxonMobil's low-carbon investment programme ($30B planned 2025–2030) is primarily directed at carbon capture and storage for third parties and hydrogen, not at transitioning its own electricity supply to renewables. No PPAs or green tariff arrangements were identified for its own operations at material scale. The score of 1 reflects a large, energy-intensive company with no substantive renewable energy strategy for its own operations.

ExxonMobil's 2024 Sustainability Report notes that 32% of major operating sites were within 5km of designated land protected areas or 10km of marine protected areas. The company participates in Ipieca Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (BES) peer workshops and checks sites against the World Database of Protected Areas. However, no TNFD-aligned disclosure was identified. ExxonMobil is the world's largest producer of single-use plastic polymers (confirmed by California AG's lawsuit), and its operations span extractive activities in ecologically sensitive regions including the Amazon basin (Guyana), Papua New Guinea, and offshore marine environments. The core business — oil extraction, refining, and plastics production — causes significant and inherent ecosystem disruption through habitat fragmentation, spills, and plastic pollution. No deforestation-free commitment or quantified biodiversity footprint was identified. Score of 2 reflects awareness of key nature risks but absence of quantified commitments or TNFD disclosure, against a backdrop of very high physical nature impact.

ExxonMobil's lubricants blending and packaging network diverted 95% of waste from landfill in 2023 and 2024 (Sustainability Magazine). The company's Baytown advanced recycling facility processed over 70 million pounds of plastic waste as of October 2024, with a $200M investment to expand to 500 million pounds per year capacity. In 2024, 80% of operational waste was managed by third-party facilities assessed by independent evaluators. However, ExxonMobil is the world's largest producer of single-use plastic polymers — the California AG alleges decades of deception about recyclability of the very plastics it produces. 70 million pounds recycled is negligible relative to the hundreds of billions of pounds of plastic ExxonMobil produces annually. The advanced recycling programme raises serious additionality and greenwashing concerns given the concurrent active lawsuit. Score of 3 reflects some operational waste management activity, offset by the dominant linear model at scale and the credible allegation of systematic recycling deception.

ExxonMobil reports freshwater consumption of 290 million cubic metres in 2023, up from 270 million cubic metres in 2022, per its own environmental performance data; consumption then held at 290 million cubic metres in both 2024 and 2025. It remains below the 370 million cubic metres reported for 2011. The company estimates approximately 19% of freshwater withdrawals come from water-stressed areas, identified using the WRI Aqueduct tool, embedded into project Environmental Standards via the Water Aspect Assessment Tool (piloted 2022, embedded 2024). No verified freshwater reduction targets with specific baselines and timelines were identified. The Greenpoint oil spill remediation in New York (ongoing, permit modification 2024) represents a legacy water pollution liability. Pioneer acquisition added significant Permian Basin fracking water use; ExxonMobil plans to increase recycled water in Permian fracturing to over 90% by 2030. Score of 3 reflects monitoring and some disclosure of water risk, without binding reduction targets or independent verification of water stewardship outcomes.

ExxonMobil has set a net-zero Scope 1+2 ambition for all operated assets by 2050, and an interim target of net-zero Scope 1+2 in Permian Basin operations by 2030/2035 (adjusted post-Pioneer acquisition). The company also has a 30% upstream Scope 1+2 absolute reduction target versus 2016 by 2025. However, none of these targets are SBTi validated — oil and gas companies cannot currently commit to SBTi as the framework is paused for the sector. The 2050 goal is explicitly labelled an 'ambition' and is conditioned on technology development, market conditions, and government policy. The CEO has publicly and explicitly stated ExxonMobil will not set a Scope 3 target. No offset strategy or CDR roadmap was identified. The company has no CDP disclosure. The absence of Scope 3 targets — for the 85%+ of its footprint — and the conditional nature of the 2050 ambition warrant a score of 2. Score of 2 reflects specific measurable interim Scope 1+2 targets with some delivery evidence, undermined by the complete absence of Scope 3 commitment and the conditional framing of long-term goals.

ExxonMobil publishes an annual Sustainability Report and a separate Advancing Climate Solutions Report (most recent issued May 2026 for FY2025 data, April 2025 for FY2024). Third-party limited assurance is provided by ERM CVS under ISO 14064-3 for the GHG inventory. The company has a TCFD-aligned disclosure and board-level governance of sustainability. However, ExxonMobil does not disclose to CDP (confirmed 'Not disclosed' per KnowESG, 2026). Critically, the company filed a lawsuit in January 2024 against investor groups (Arjuna Capital and Follow This) to block a shareholder resolution requesting deeper emissions reductions — the first time a major corporation sued investors over a climate resolution — and the chilling effect resulted in no climate resolutions appearing on the 2025 proxy ballot. This constitutes active suppression of shareholder accountability mechanisms and warrants a significant downward adjustment. Score of 4 reflects published sustainability reporting with third-party limited assurance, offset by non-disclosure to CDP and active legal suppression of shareholder climate engagement.

Starting at 8. Multiple serious findings apply. (1) Active lobbying against climate policy: InfluenceMap rates ExxonMobil D- on its A-to-F scale of Paris-aligned climate policy engagement, ranking it the #1 most obstructive company globally on climate policy. This triggers the automatic cap at 3 under the lobbying rule. (2) Trade association misalignment: ExxonMobil is a leading member of the American Petroleum Institute (API), which scores an F on InfluenceMap's scale and has consistently lobbied to block or weaken climate policy — this triggers an additional -2 deduction, reducing the floor to 1. These two deductions cannot be offset by positive work under the lobbying rules for the infrastructure/materially complicit tiers. Additional findings that stack onto the record (not double-counted): (3) California AG active lawsuit (Sep 2024, pending) alleging a 50-year campaign of plastic recycling deception — a credible government enforcement action with subpoena-backed documentation; (4) $816M benzene cancer verdict against ExxonMobil (2024) — upheld court judgment; (5) ExxonMobil sued investor groups Arjuna Capital and Follow This to block climate resolutions (2024), bypassing the SEC's established process; (6) Filed legal challenge against EU carbon storage mandate for oil and gas producers (July 2026, per InfluenceMap/LobbyMap); (7) Union of Concerned Scientists characterised the 2025 Advancing Climate Solutions Report as greenwashing and 'paltering.' These additional findings confirm a systematic pattern of opposition to accountability. Score: 1.