Exxon Mobil Corp. disclosed emissions data on customers’ use of its fuels and other products for the first time after coming under pressure from investors. The oil giant’s so-called Scope 3 emissions from petroleum-product sales were equivalent to 730 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2019, according to the company’s Energy and Carbon Summary released Tuesday. That’s about the same as the entire country of Canada and is the highest of all major Western oil companies.

Carbon Impact

Scope 3 makes up more than 80% of most oil companies’ total emissions

Source: Bloomberg

Most Western supermajors already publish the information and Exxon is doing so because “stakeholders have expressed growing interest” in it, the company said in the report. However, the data “do not provide meaningful insight into the company’s emission-reduction performance and could be misleading in some respects.”

Exxon prefers to focus on Scope 1 and 2 emissions, which are within its direct control, rather than the use of its products, which depends on demand from customers. However, rivals such as Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc are targeting emissions cuts that cover Scope 3 figures.

Exxon has come under pressure from activist investors in recent weeks for its poor shareholder returns and environmental record. Last month, Bloomberg News reported that major investors such as AllianceBernstein, Wellington Management and California State Teachers’ Retirement System have called on Exxon and the industry to increase transparency and publish more forward-looking emissions data, like the kind it routinely uses internally.

The company’s Scope 1 and 2 emissions fell 3.2% in 2019 to 120 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, the lowest since at least 2010, according to Tuesday’s report.