Fifth-generation Descendants of John Rockefeller, the man whose company eventually became ExxonMobil, are calling out the company as "morally bankrupt" over what they say is the company's record on climate change.
In an interview with "CBS This Morning" on Thursday, David Kaiser and Valerie Rockefeller Wayne claim ExxonMobil has kept the lid on the dangers of burning fossil fuels despite being at the forefront of research since the 1970s.
The philanthropy organizations that they chair — both using the Rockefeller name — have funded climate change investigations that led to a public falling out with the ExxonMobil, which started as John Rockefeller's Standard Oil.
"I would say that right now, their company seems to be morally bankrupt," Kaiser told CBS.
They say they feel the weight of "moral responsibility," given that the source of generations of enormous wealth came from fossil fuels.
"What we would hope from Exxon is that they would admit what they've done — these decades of denial — and continue what they've started in a very small way to do now, which is to look at alternatives and we really hope they become an industry leader," Wayne told CBS.
"They can set the tone for the industry in doing more, but the truth has to come out."
For its part, ExxonMobil told CBS that Kaiser and Wayne are involved in a "coordinated campaign . . . to vilify the company" before later retracting that statement and issuing a "no comment" instead.