Post Carbon Bill McKibben’s op-ed on New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s investigation into Exxon’s green house gas accounting appeared in the LA Times.

From the article:

Schneiderman took a different tack, subpoenaing the company to see if it had also lied to investors. (Since there’s money on the line, that’s called fraud, and it’s definitely not protected by the Constitution). For two years now, Exxon, with the same lawyers at its side who once defended Philip Morris, has fought his efforts, attempting to quash subpoenas and intimidate environmentalists. (I have a letter from them warning me to preserve my emails relating to Exxon, which apparently didn’t like my little protest). But Schneiderman persevered, and eventually his sharp-eyed attorneys noticed something interesting in the crateloads of documents the company has so far surrendered.

Exxon claims that since 2007 it has used a “proxy price” on carbon to decide if it’s safe to invest in new oil fields. Executives know the world is starting to take action on climate change and that national governments are likely to impose new rules and regulations on fossil fuel markets, so they predict how much extra they’ll have to pay to obtain and sell oil.