Exxon escapes fraud charge, but not climate risks

ImpactAlpha, Dec. 11 – A New York judge found ExxonMobil not guilty of deceiving investors about how it accounted for the cost of future climate-change regulations. The oil and gas giant escaped charges of securities fraud, but it may be harder to shake off the declining value of its massive fossil fuel business.

Chevron on Tuesday wrote down the value of oil and gas assets in Appalachia, the Gulf of Mexico and Canada by $10 billion, one of the largest energy write-downs in years. Last week brought a $5 billion write-down from Spain’s Repsol. The signal: Expect more write-downs as the market wakes up to the risk of “stranded assets” (see, “Agent of Impact: Mark Campanale, Carbon Tracker Initiative”).

“Companies that fail to plan for a net-zero world will inevitably get caught — and investors will pay the price in unplanned write downs and an economy battered by massive climate impacts,” says As You Sow’s Danielle Fugere. Read Full Article - Impactalpha, December 11, 2019