If necessity is the mother of invention, it can also be the catalyst of change. Public Radio International reports that the Rockefeller family is taking on the CEO of Exxon Mobil, the company founded as Standard Oil by their great, great grandfather John D. Rockefeller in 1870. And this rare public engagement of the family in the inner workings of Exxon is not about current profitability, for which Exxon can boast record highs, but about lack of transition to renewable sources of energy. In fact, according to the Times Online, the press release from the Rockefellers came the day before Exxon Mobil was expected to unveil a $12 billion quarterly profit, the biggest in U.S. corporate history.

The Rockefeller family is calling for a reduction in the power of the current CEO, Rex Tillerson, and the addition of an outside chairman. Their primary concern is one of economics; Exxon needs to start looking at alternative sources of energy because it is going to run out of oil. Currently Exxon is selling oil faster than they are replacing it. Volatility and nationalism in the Middle East and other oil producing countries will only increase the difficulty in doing so. The Rockefellers point to Exxon’s lack of research and development vis a vis its competitors in areas like wind and solar technology as a key source of frustration. The family, which holds a significant minority stake in the company, is not alone among shareholders in their frustration with Exxon’s position on renewables and the climate crisis in general. Robert Monks, one of Exxon’s shareholders, is quoted in the American Public Media story saying, “Exxon is enabled to go in public discourse and say the science is unsettled. Well the science is unsettled, because Exxon paid to have it unsettled.” (See here, here and here.)

With the Rockefeller family taking a historic public position on the inner workings of the company, some kind of shake up is expected to take place at next month’s board meeting. It is crazy to think that a big oil company could actually reinvent themselves to be in the business of clean energy, but if the economic pressures are great enough, the market may force them there. We might feel better if Exxon came to a saner position on renewables and climate change because it is the right thing to do rather than out of pure economic interest, but like it or not, most corporations are not in the business of doing the right thing, they are in the business of making money for their shareholders. It is gratifying, however, to see that sometimes doing the right thing and making money for shareholders can coincide. It has taken Exxon far too long to figure that out, but perhaps environmentalists can learn some lessons here, too. If we want to be persuasive in getting corporations to change their behavior sooner rather than later, we have to speak the language of bottom lines and profitability. The other lesson is that it’s very helpful to have the support of someone on the inside.