Exxon helped cause the climate crisis. It’s time they owned up | Mark Hertsgaard

The Cop26 climate summit will be an opportunity to put fossil fuel companies on trial through the court of public opinion

Fossil fuel companies bear as much responsibility as governments do for humanity's climate predicament - and for finding a way out. Our planetary house is on fire, and these companies have literally supplied the fuel. Worse, they lied about it for decades to blunt public awareness and policy reform.

There's no better time for ExxonMobil and other petroleum giants to be held accountable than at the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow in November. The Glasgow summit is more than just another international meeting. It is the last chance for world leaders to limit future temperature rise to an amount that civilization can survive. Doing so, scientists say, will require a rapid, global decline in oil, gas and coal burning.