Securities and Exchange Commission Drops Probe of ExxonMobil over Climate Risk

The Wall Street Journal reported August 3rd that Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulators have “decided against trying to penalize the energy giant over its disclosures and how it accounted for oil and gas assets.”

For years, climate campaigners have alleged that ExxonMobil defrauds shareholders by failing to take into account the financial risks of potential future climate policies that put a price on carbon. Former (disgraced) New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman learned to his chagrin that ExxonMobil “stress tests” its investments with “shadow” carbon prices of $60 per ton in 2030 and $80 per ton in 2040. Apparently, the SEC, after examining 4.2 million pages of documents over the past two and a half years, came to the same conclusion.

For additional discussion of the Orwellian campaign to “protect shareholder value” by litigating oil companies into bankruptcy, see my “Is Shareholder Activism Surging or Peaking?” and “Climate Bullies: Dems Ask S.E.C. to Target Shell.”