On Wednesday, a New York court will hold a hearing on new information that ExxonMobil failed to disclose relevant documents in response to an ongoing investigation by the New York Attorney General into whether the company misled investors and the public about the risks of climate change. In response to revelations that ExxonMobil CEO, now US Secretary of State, Rex Wayne Tillerson communicated about climate risk under the email alias “Wayne Tracker” and that these messages were not produced in response to the AG’s discovery request, Exxon has now alleged that some portion of these emails may have been destroyed even after the company received a litigation hold notice.
Carroll Muffett, President of the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), issued the following statement:
Having failed to disclose an unspecified number of relevant emails in which ExxonMobil CEO and now US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson explicitly discussed climate change and climate risk, Exxon is now suggesting that it “inadvertently” deleted those emails. The nondisclosure and apparent destruction of information clearly relevant to both governmental investigations and Exxon investors raises grave questions about the management of the company. More fundamentally, the “loss” of high-level communications directly relevant to climate risk adds to mounting evidence that the company engaged in a decades-long—and apparently ongoing—pattern of concealment, deception, and potential fraud on climate change.
–Carroll Muffett, President, Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL)
Note for editors: CIEL President Carroll Muffett is among the individuals and NGOs that have been subpoenaed by Exxon in its effort to quash the ExxonKnew investigations.