Tillerson leads Exxon's shifting stance on climate change

New York

IN January 2009, Rex Tillerson, the chief executive of Exxon Mobil, gave a speech in Washington that might have seemed impossible even a few years before. He announced that his company supported a carbon tax to help fight climate change.

Carbon taxes are a fee on fuel use, based on how much carbon dioxide that fuel puts into the atmosphere.

"As a businessman, it is hard to speak favourably about any new tax," Mr Tillerson told reporter…