NEW YORK, (Reuters) – Former Exxon Mobil Corp Chief Executive Officer Rex Tillerson answered questions today about the oil major’s methods of measuring potential costs of climate change, as he testified in a closely watched civil lawsuit accusing the company of hiding the costs from investors.
The case, which kicked off in Manhattan state court last week, is the first of several climate-related lawsuits against major oil companies to go to trial.
Brought by New York’s attorney general, the lawsuit alleges that Exxon falsely told investors it had properly evaluated the impact of future climate regulations on its business using a “proxy cost” of up to $80 per ton of carbon emissions in wealthy countries by 2040, but internally used figures as low as $40 per ton or none at all.
It says Exxon caused investors to lose up to $1.6 billion.
Exxon has assailed the claims as false and politically motivated.
Tillerson testified that the proxy cost represented a “macro level” assessment of the effect of carbon regulations across the world, and was incorporated into a data guide used throughout Exxon. Separately, he said, the company would sometimes evaluate greenhouse gas costs at a “micro level” for specific projects, when appropriate.
“What we’re really trying to do is be the most realistic, present our best view of how this is going to turn out,” he said.
Tillerson served as Exxon CEO from 2006 to 2017, and U.S. secretary of state under President Donald Trump from 2017 to 2018.
Last Thursday, just two days after the New York trial began, Massachusetts filed a similar lawsuit accusing Exxon of misleading investors and consumers for decades about the role fossil fuels play in climate change.
Both Massachusetts and New York began investigating Exxon after news reports in 2015 saying company scientists had determined that fossil fuel combustion must be reduced to mitigate the impact of climate change.
Exxon and other oil companies including BP Plc, Chevron Corp and Royal Dutch Shell Plc face lawsuits by cities and counties across the United States seeking funds to pay for seawalls and other infrastructure to guard against rising sea levels brought on by climate change.
The companies have said in court filings that they cannot be held liable for climate change.
