This 1995 document from Imperial Oil, Exxon’s Canadian subsidiary, is a letter from Robert Peterson, Imperial’s Chairman and CEO, to then-Prime Minister of Canada Jean Chretien, regarding the first meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

In the letter, Peterson frames the Framework Convention on Climate Change to be “as much, or more, about world trade, future competitiveness and economic growth than issues of potential global climate change.” 

He also urges that the Canadian delegation to the Convention “include very senior trade, natural resource and environment representatives with a well defined, Cabinet-endorsed negotiating mandate.” This kind of advocacy reflects Imperial’s continued attempts to influence the Canadian government’s environmental policy process, as illustrated in its 1990 response to the Canadian government’s Green Plan.