Greens say plan new protest against Esso in UK
Date: 12-Mar-02
Country: UK
Author: Neil Chatterjee
"We expect this to be the biggest protest against global warming in the UK so far," Cindy Baxter of StopEsso told Reuters.
The campaign is co-ordinated by various environmental groups including Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth and has involved celebrities including Bianca Jagger and pop star Annie Lennox.
The group first targeted Esso stations with thousands of protesters across the UK on December 1 last year. Esso has more than 1,400 sites in the UK.
Other environmental groups were being attracted into taking part with StopEsso creating a web of protest, Baxter said.
"We're aiming for a lot more stations and people this time. There was a lot of anger after (U.S. President George) Bush anounced his climate plan last month," she said.
Esso's parent company U.S. oil giant Exxon Mobil has come under fire from environmental groups and politicians for opposing the Kyoto Protocol on global climate change.
They allege intense lobbying by powerful firms like Exxon contributed to the U.S. pulling out of the deal last year.
Exxon's Vice-President Rene Dahan said at an industry conference last year that Exxon did not have great influence over the Bush administration.
The company denies it is unconcerned by global warming and says that it is tackling the issue on a number of other fronts.
These include reducing energy use at the company's plants, working with the car industry to improve fuel efficiency in combustion engines as well as helping to develop lower emission fuel cell and hybrid cars.
"We strongly refute the allegations they have made. We believe that action is needed to address the serious long term risks posed by climate change," an Esso spokesman said.
He said the company's brand had not been affected by the protests. "There's no discernible impact on our sales in the UK following the boycott being launched," he added.
Industry experts said the impact on Esso's profits was likely to be limited as UK motor fuel sales were a very small part of the company's turnover.