Exxon, Chevron, Occidental join energy climate group

WASHINGTON — Three of the largest U.S. oil companies, Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Occidental Petroleum, have joined the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative, an industry group with the mission of reducing greenhouse gas emissions produced from oil and natural gas.

Until now the group, which includes the European majors Shell, BP and Total, did not have a single U.S. company on its membership list. With the addition of the U.S. companies, the climate group says it now represents 30 percent of global oil and gas production.

“It will take the collective efforts of many in the energy industry and society to develop scalable, affordable solutions that will be needed to address the risks of climate change,” Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods said in a statement.

U.S. energy companies have generally lagged their European counterparts in acknowledging the threat of climate change and taking steps to address it. While U.S. companies have focused on developing oil and gas holdings and downplayed its threat to their industry, European firms have boosted their investments in renewable energy, cleaner burning natural gas and other technologies aimed at reducing greenhouse gases.

The national oil company of Norway, for example, changed its name from Statoil to Equinor to reflect its growing focus on renewables, particularly offshore wind. Shell has pledged to invest in lowand no-carbon technologies to reduce net carbon dioxide emissions from operations and products by half by 2050.

American companies, however, are making moves to address climate change. Exxon Mobil, for example, has committed to reducing emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, from its operations.