Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) has been working to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions on multiple fronts. On Tuesday, the company announced as part of its fourth quarter earnings statement that it expects to meet its 2025 emission-reduction plans four years ahead of schedule. Per the energy company’s earnings release, this includes a 15–20% reduction in greenhouse gas intensity of upstream operations, a 40–50% reduction in methane intensity, and a 35–45% reduction in flaring intensity across the corporation as compared to levels from 2016.
In addition, Exxon unveiled in the fourth quarter new emission-reduction plans through 2030, which include plans to achieve Scope 1 and 2 net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 in the Permian Basin, which are consistent with Paris-aligned pathways, the U.S. and European Union’s Global Methane Pledge, and the U.S. Methane Emissions Reduction Action Plan. The company also plans to invest $15 billion in lower-emission solutions to both reduce its Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions and support customers in decarbonizing, with a focus on carbon capture and storage, hydrogen, and biofuels.
In January, the company announced its ambition to achieve net zero emissions from operated assets by 2050, backed by a comprehensive approach to develop detailed emission-reduction roadmaps for major operated assets. This ambition applies to Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions and builds on the company’s 2030 emission-reduction plans. The company’s roadmap approach identifies greenhouse gas emission-reduction opportunities for individual operated assets and the investment and future policy needs required to achieve net zero.
In December, Exxon Mobil and Scepter Inc. announced that they have agreed to work together to deploy advanced satellite technology and proprietary data processing platforms to detect methane emissions at a global scale. Initially focused on Permian Basin operations, the agreement has the potential to redefine methane detection and mitigation efforts and could contribute to broader satellite-based emission-reduction efforts across a dozen global industries, including energy, agriculture, manufacturing, and transportation.
Exxon Mobil is among the top holdings in the SPDR S&P 500 ESG ETF (EFIV), which seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the total return performance of an index that provides exposure to securities that meet certain sustainability criteria (criteria related to ESG factors) while maintaining similar overall industry group weights to those in the S&P 500 Index.
In seeking to track the performance of the S&P 500 ESG Index, EFIV employs a sampling strategy, which means that it is not required to purchase all the securities represented in the index. EFIV gives investors investment results that, before fees and expenses, correspond generally to the S&P 500 ESG Index. It also offers potential ESG core exposure, based on its focus on sustainability criteria and comprehensive market coverage of the flagship core S&P 500 Index.
EFIV has an expense ratio of 0.10%.
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