An advisor to President Bush on climate issues today claimed global warming is a myth designed to 'hamper American competitiveness.' Myron Ebell, a director at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, today told Radio 4 that claims the climate is threatened are 'ridiculous, unrealistic and alarmist.'

"The whole tissue of argument that makes climate change into the greatest problem facing humanity is based on a long series of improbabilities," he said.

The Competitive Enterprise Institute has received $1.5m from Esso since 1998 (see www.exxonsecrets.org). Esso is the world's biggest oil company and funds a series of front groups that spread doubt about climate science and advise Republican politicians on global warming. The CEI is one of the biggest of these groups.

Mr Ebell claimed that Britain's chief scientist, Sir David King, "knows nothing about climate science." He said Sir David is an "alarmist" who is "promoting this ridiculous claim."

Greenpeace campaigner Anita Goldsmith said:

"It is terrifying that this man is advising the White House on the gravest threat this planet faces. It just goes to show what was at stake on Tuesday, and what was lost. Mr Ebell might as well be claiming that Elvis is alive and well and living in Croydon or that the Earth is flat. The world's best climate scientists agree the threat is real and growing. Mr Ebell is a mouthpiece for Esso and should not be taken seriously, but his views are policy in the oval office."

Liberal Democrat environment spokesman Norman Baker is tabling an Early Day Motion in parliament, condemning Mr Ebell for his comments (see below).

Mr Ebell did not accept the suggestion that the world's temperature has risen more quickly than at any time in recorded history. Asked whether European countries were 'not out to save the world, but out to get America,' Mr Ebell replied, 'I think that is pretty obviously and explicitly the programme of the EU Commission, yes.'

Anita Goldsmith added: "This kind of idiocy would be a mere distraction if it were not for the fact that Bush believes this nonsense. If Tony Blair really regards global warming as a huge threat, like he says he does, he needs to give the President a dose of straight talking the next time they meet."

For more call Greenpeace on 0207 865 8255.

Norman Baker EDM reads:

THE US GOVERNMENT AND CLIMATE CHANGE - This House deplores in the strongest possible terms the unfounded and insulting criticism of Sir David King, the government's Chief Scientist, by Myron Ebell, advisor to US President George W Bush on climate change; notes that Mr Ebell is a director of global warming at the Competitive Enterprise Institute in Washington, an organisation bankrolled by, amongst others, ExxonMobil and the American Petroleum Institute; fervently hopes that Mr Ebell's comments do not represent official US policy; congratulates Sir David King on the work he has done to raise the issue of global warming both at home and abroad; believes that the planet cannot afford another four years of inaction and denial from the US administration; and calls on the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary to do everything possible to get President Bush to accept the need to take climate change seriously and ensure the US plays its part internationally in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Greenpeace tigers at Esso HQ in Texas, USA

The StopEsso UK coalition said today that the 22% shareholder vote against ExxonMobil on climate change at its annual meeting in Dallas should be a wake-up call for the company's anti-global warming stance.

The vote, worth around $44 billion worth of share value, called on ExxonMobil to report to shareholders on how it will mitigate the risks presented by climate change. Another, similar, resolution calling on the company to present a similar report on renewable energy, garnered 21%, up from last year's vote of 20.3%.

The StopEsso campaign, (a coalition of Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and People & Planet) began in the UK when George W Bush announced he would walk away from the only international treaty to combat climate change, the Kyoto Protocol. The campaign has now spread to nine countries.

Exxon has publicly admitted that the campaign has been effective, forcing the company to change its 'spin' on global warming. But despite this softening in public attitude, the company has continued to fund 'front groups' which deny the realities of global warming. These groups are running vociferous campaigns against the US action on climate change, as well as trying to undermine the accepted climate science.

"Exxon's war against the climate has to stop," said Cindy Baxter, co-ordinator of the StopEsso coalition. "Today's vote comes in the face of a massive greenwash campaign from the company to convince investors and the public that it cares about climate change. But it shows that an increasing number of Exxon's own shareholders have not been fooled."

In the lead up to today's AGM, Greenpeace Activists in the US invaded Exxon's Texas based headquarters and served criminal notices on management for crimes against the climate. UK activist Emily Armistead, who was arrested for her part in the activity said from Dallas:

"ExxonMobil is a company stuck in the past. By refusing to accept the link between fossil fuels and climate change it has shown that it really is the dinosaur of the oil industry, and shareholders have recognised this. As long as Exxon continues to sabotage international action on climate change, the campaign and the boycott will continue."

Even ExxonMobil staff are now calling on the company to change. In the wake of a Greenpeace invasion of the Dallas headquarters yesterday, a staff member posted a message on the Greenpeace website:

"There are many of us working for this company who believe that current management is making a mistake by ignoring or, worse, challenging the science on climate change. It's a public relations mistake, and a market positioning mistake, that other oil companies have been quicker to avoid.

Oil isn't going to go away tomorrow. But then, neither is global warming, and we ought to stop pretending it will. I'd prefer to work for a company that took that problem seriously, and did more to look after my children's future."

This release was issued by the StopEsso UK coalition (Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, People and Planet).
For more information, call the Greenpeace press office on 020 7865 8255.