Exxon CEO Darren Woods calls rivals' climate goals a 'beauty competition'

Much-derided plastic even came in for some praise, with Exxon Senior Vice President Jack Williams arguing that it's "a net benefit to society and to the environment."

Exxon Mobil dismissed long-term pledges by some of its Big Oil rivals to reduce carbon dioxide emissions as nothing more than a “beauty competition” that would do little to halt climate change.

Energy companies need to focus on global, systemic efforts to reduce greenhouse gases, rather than just replacing their own emissions-heavy assets with cleaner ones to make themselves look good, Chief Executive Officer Darren Woods said in New York on Thursday.

“Individual companies setting targets and then selling assets to another company so that their portfolio has a different carbon intensity has not solved the problem for the world,” Woods said