Abstract
Climate change has reached 'tipping point' in the global community: carbon emissions are increasing rapidly while very little is being done politically or economically to address the problem (Patenaude 2011). In 2005 and 2006 the coverage of the climate change issue soared in the media and many companies began to change their energy habits in response. For example, the 138-year-old oil producer, ExxonMobil, appears to be changing its long-held views on climate change. After many years of being public enemy number one among environmental activists across the globe for its alleged denial of the issue, the oil giant seems to be having a change of heart. As the world 's biggest producer of oil and largest public energy company, and having made a profit in the first half of 2010 of US$13.9 billion, ExxonMobil could be forgiven, at least perhaps by some of its shareholders, for its historically dismissive view on climate change. However, those who take the 'normative' view of stakeholder theory (Donaldson & Preston 1995) and those in society who believe firms should practise the 'purest' form of corporate social responsibility (CSR) (Mintzberg 1983), could have taken issue with ExxonMobil's traditional stance.