ExxonMobil has appointed a leading atmospheric scientist to its board as it bolsters its response to concerns about climate change. Susan Avery, a former director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, was on Wednesday elected a director with effect from February 1. Ms Avery is a respected scientist who has specialised in atmospheric dynamics and variability, and has worked extensively on climate change. She helped the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration formulate a national plan for climate research and was a member of the scientific advisory board to Ban Ki-moon when he was secretary-general of the UN. Last June she was appointed to a new NOAA committee, advising on a project to monitor the impact of global warming on the US. Speaking at a renewable energy conference in Colorado in 2014, Ms Avery said: “Clearly climate science is telling us get off fossil fuels as much as possible.” Her appointment to the board meets a demand raised by a number of investors — that Exxon should appoint a board director with expertise in climate change. Investors argued that Exxon’s board needed deep understanding of the implications of climate science and policy for its business.