Stop Esso campaign
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Stop Esso campaign is a campaign by Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and People and Planet aimed at boycotting the oil company Esso, known as ExxonMobil in the U.S., because they believe it is doing damage to the environment.
The campaign claims that Esso is:
- not investing in renewable energy sources
- denying the existence of global warming
- undermining the Kyoto Protocol.
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[edit] Stop Esso (France) website injunction
Greenpeace was sued in France by Esso, who alleged that the company's reputation was damaged by the campaign's use of a parody Esso logo featuring dollar signs in place of the letters "ss".
Esso claimed that the $$ resemble the SS of the Nazi paramilitary organization [1]. A French court ruled in favour of Esso, granting them an injunction against the French website. The campaign then moved their French web site to the USA. Another French judge has subsequently overturned the original ruling, so the site has moved back to France. The Stop Esso campaign continues to use the dollar sign logo.
[edit] Esso's greenhouse gas production
Stop Esso's consumer boycott has focused on the greenhouse gas production and climate change policies of Esso. Esso's critics point out the company produces twice the CO2 pollution of a country such as Norway. Company data revealed a 2% increase in greenhouse gas production in 2004 to 135.6m tonnes. Supporters of Stop Esso argue that BP has a similar level of production as Esso with nearly 50% less greenhouse gas emissions. One environmental consultancy believed Esso underestimated its greenhouse gas production because it excluded petrol stations and tankers. It estimates Exxon's production at over 300m tonnes. [2]
[edit] Esso's reaction
In response to Stop Esso, Esso gave financial support to climate change research. However, it continued to encourage President Bush and other world leaders not to sign the Kyoto Protocol which mandates decreased production of greenhouse gases.
A proportion of Esso's greenhouse gas production arose because of the flaring of gas in Nigeria. When natural gas is brought out with oil, Esso in Nigeria burned the gas rather than processing it. Esso pledged to cease this practice by 2006.[3]
[edit] Stop Esso days held so far
- UK
- December 1, 2001 - about 306 Esso stations boycotted
- May 18, 2002 - about 400 Esso stations boycotted
- Luxembourg
- October 25, 2002 - all 28 Esso stations boycotted
[edit] Criticism
The stop Esso campaign has been criticised by some human rights activists on the basis that it inevitably encourages people to purchase petrol from retailers who are often deemed to be less ethical than Esso. For example the stop Esso campaign ignores that fact that as a response people may fund human rights abuses in Nigeria by filling up at Shell or Burma by filling up at Total. The stop Esso campaign therefore whilst commonly accepted as an effective fight against global warming is deemed by some to inadvertently cause people to fund appalling human rights abuses.
