Exxon Mobil’s chief executive is actively urging European lawmakers to revoke a new sustainability law, calling this legislation part of a “very misguided effort to kill oil and gas as a way of addressing climate change.”
These remarks from CEO Darren Woods, made during a recent interview with The New York Times, come just days after U.S. officials publicly condemned the European Union’s aggressive policies aimed at rapidly cutting planet-heating greenhouse gas emissions. Europe has recently endured one of its hottest summers on record, prompting governments across the continent to implement measures to safeguard their populations and economies from the increasing threats of extreme weather, which are intensified by the burning of coal, oil, and gas.
Woods revealed that he has engaged in discussions with members of the Trump administration and European legislators regarding a directive. This rule mandates that large corporations operating within the 27-nation economic bloc must identify and prevent adverse environmental and human rights impacts throughout their global supply chains. The Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, enacted in 2024 after years of deliberation, has seen its implementation timelines postponed and is now slated to take effect for companies starting in 2028.
“We see this as a really significant impediment to continuing to have operations in Europe and to be a successful business there,” Woods stated. Exxon is recognized as the largest U.S. oil and gas enterprise.
Under these new requirements, companies operating in Europe will be obliged to formulate a strategy to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, aligning with the Paris Agreement’s objective of keeping global temperature rise within manageable limits. This regulation complements the European Union’s broader legal framework to achieve climate neutrality by mid-century.
To achieve this ambitious 2050 target, the European Union has also established legally binding short-term emission reduction commitments. The bloc has committed to a 55 percent reduction in emissions by 2030, compared to 1990 levels, and is currently deliberating on its emissions-reduction targets for 2035.
This Thursday, the European Union’s energy ministers were scheduled to convene to discuss the proposed 2035 and 2040 emissions cuts. Disagreements persist regarding the stringency of these reductions, making it uncertain whether a consensus on the 2035 targets can be reached before this year’s global climate summit in Belem, Brazil, slated for November.
The office of Jopke Hoekstra, the European Union’s climate commissioner, did not immediately provide a response to a request for comment.
Scientific consensus broadly acknowledges that rising global temperatures are exacerbating extreme weather phenomena such as droughts, storms, and wildfires, leading to trillions of dollars in economic damages over time.
European lawmakers from industrialized nations argue that renewable energy sources, like wind and solar, enhance their energy independence, reducing their reliance on other countries for power. This argument has gained significant traction following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as Russia was a primary supplier of gas for European power plants.
While American fossil fuels have largely replaced Russian gas, Europe has also significantly accelerated its development of renewable energy infrastructure.
Woods unequivocally called for the corporate sustainability directive to be “reversed and repealed.”
“The European policymakers have gotten it wrong,” he asserted, “and instead of fixing the mess that they’ve created, they’re trying to drag every American company that’s doing business over there into that mess.”
Several major oil companies are facing lawsuits in European and other courts regarding the climate impacts of their primary business: the sale of oil. When burned as fuel, oil releases greenhouse gas emissions that are dangerously warming the planet.
Europe’s industrialized nations are among the largest historical polluters, and European Union lawmakers are under increasing public pressure to transition their economies away from burning coal, oil, and gas. These net-zero regulations, designed to cut emissions, pose a significant challenge to oil and gas companies globally, especially American ones, as they supply the largest shares of these fuels to the continent.
Just last week, during a visit to key European cities, Trump administration officials criticized these laws as products of “climate ideology” while simultaneously attempting to secure agreements for increased American oil and gas sales. Under a recent trade deal with the United States, European officials indicated they would purchase an additional $750 billion in oil and gas from the U.S. over the next three years of President Trump’s term. However, many analysts have deemed this pledge impractical, as it would necessitate a threefold increase in fossil fuel trade.
Currently, the United States holds the position as the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas and the leading producer of oil.