SAN FRANCISCO
Lee Heidhues 9.2.2024
Buried in the second section in a recent Wall Street Journal is the news that Exxon Mobil predicts, “the world isn’t on pace to make dramatic emissions reductions needed to stem climate change.”
And it’s fair to say the world won’t reach its climate change goals because companies like Exxon can’t afford to do what’s necessary. The Exxon profit margin is at risk
Exxon gross profit for the quarter ending June 30, 2024 was $22.478B, a 18.98% increase year-over-year. Exxon gross profit for the twelve months ending June 30, 2024 was $85.406B, a 18% decline year-over-year. Exxon annual gross profit for 2023 was $85.657B, a 24.99% decline from 2022. https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/XOM/exxon/gross-profit#:~:text=Exxon%20gross%20profit%20for%20the,a%2024.99%25%20decline%20from%202022.
Wall Street Journal 8.26.2024
Exxon Mobil says humans will use roughly as much crude oil in 2050 as they do today and that the world isn’t on pace to make dramatic emissions reductions needed to stem climate change.
In its annual energy outlook, the Houston-based fossil-fuels producer said it expects carbon emissions to drop for the first time in 2030. But the world will need policy changes, breakthroughs in technology and market solutions if governments want to keep global temperatures on pace to meet the goals of the Paris climate accords set out in 2015.
The company said it believes oil and natural gas will continue to top the world’s energy sources a quarter century from now, even as renewable energy grows and coal use falls sharply. But Exxon says passenger cars will consume less fossil fuel and chemical plants will use more oil.
The company expects the world’s natural-gas demand to rise 21% by 2050, and oil 2%, with most of that growth in industrial sectors to fuel manufacturing and as chemical feedstock. Meanwhile, it sees consumption of biofuels, solar and wind rising exponentially and coal dropping off 39%.
Last year, Exxon also said the global effort to curtail greenhouse-gas emissions isn’t on track to keep the planet’s temperature from rising by more than 2 degrees Celsius by 2050.
Exxon said carbon capture and the use of hydrogen-based fuels need to expand rapidly for the world to meet Paris climate goals. The company plans to invest billions over the next few years in both technologies. It faces dozens of lawsuits across the U.S. accusing it of climate-change deception.
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