Inside Exxon Mobil's 'God Pod'

Publish date: 2024-05-19

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Happy Friday, and welcome to Insider Energy, a weekly energy newsletter brought to you by Business Insider.  

Here's what you need to know:

I really thought climate and energy would enjoy an enduring spotlight this week. Enter, GameStop, a company I haven't thought about since I tried to like video games as a kid. (You can read our coverage of the rapidly snowballing story here.)

Still, it was a huge week for energy. Biden signed a sweeping executive order aimed at slowing climate change. General Motors, the second-largest American automaker, said it would stop making gas-powered cars by 2035. And that's just the start of it. 

Let's jump in. 

Volta charging stations Volta

Winners and losers in Biden's big day on climate 

Joe Biden has moved faster than any other US president to cut carbon emissions. On Wednesday, dubbed Climate Day, he signed a massive executive order that unravels much of Trump's fossil-fuel legacy. 

What it does: Most significantly, the EO puts a pause on new federal oil leases and directs government agencies to electrify their massive fleet of vehicles. 

What it means: The bottom line is that it's very good for the clean energy economy but hardly a fatal blow to fossil fuels. There are a few clear winners and losers: 

A note for investors: Morgan Stanley has some thoughts on how investors can profit from Biden's clean-energy push. The Wall Street bank named 14 stocks it's betting will surge

Exxon's top four execs. From left to right: Andrew Swiger, SVP and Principal Financial Officer; Darren Woods, CEO; Jack Williams, SVP; and Neil Chapman, SVP. Richard Carson/REUTERS; Richard Carson/REUTERS; Mark Schiefelbeinl/Getty; Fazry Ismail/Getty; Skye Gould/Insider

Inside Exxon Mobil's 'God Pod' and the challenges it's up against

Many of the problems that plagued Exxon in 2020 — which we've written plenty about — have followed it into the new year. We wanted to know who's facing off against them. 

Inside Exxon: This week we published an exclusive interactive org chart of 138 of the company's top employees. 

Turbulence ahead: Exxon is dealing with industry-wide problems, such as stunted demand for oil. But it's also got some challenges of its own

Heads-up: Exxon reports earnings on Tuesday, and is expected to announce another quarter of loss. 

Gene Berdichevsky, cofounder & CEO of Sila Nanotechnologies Sila Nanotechnologies

Startups: Meet 5 battery firms taking on a $129 billion market, Climeworks gets Microsoft money 

We knew this year would be huge for the EV industry and it has been, on news from this week alone. 

Not so fast: It will still take time to electrify a considerable chunk of vehicles in the US. We're not even close. Challenges stand in the way including the high price of batteries, which leads me to a story from Insider's Lianna Norman. 

In other climate-tech news: Carbon capture is also having a good year so far. This week Microsoft announced it was backing the Swiss carbon-removal startup Climeworks

Former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm is Joe Biden's pick for energy secretary. Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

4 other big stories this week 

That's it! Have a great weekend. 

- Benji 

Get the latest ExxonMobil stock price here.

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