Feds Investigating Exxon on Climate Change

The investigation has been called a “moment of reckoning” for the corporation.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has joined the growing list of agencies and offices probing ExxonMobil on climate change.

The federal agency has launched an investigation into how the oil and gas company values its future projects in the face of global climate change and plunging oil prices,  The Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed sources.

The SEC, the Journal reports, is looking into Exxon’s practice of not writing down the value of its assets ― something other major U.S. energy companies have done in response to falling oil prices ― and how the company “calculates the impact to its business from the world’s mounting response to climate change.”

The investigation adds to those led by the attorneys general of New York and Massachusetts. In November 2015 New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman subpoenaed Exxon seeking documents related to the allegations that the company lied to its investors and committed fraud by covering up the risks of climate change.  In March Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said her office would join the ExxonMobil probes in New York and California. 

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