Roberta Luxbacher, director Europe
ExxonMobil Gas & Power Marketing
speaking at a reception
during 'Energy Saving Week'
at the House of Commons, London

October 24, 2006

Baroness Maddock, Minister of State, my Lord, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon.

It is my pleasure to be with you this afternoon to talk to you about the ExxonMobil Energy Challenge.

First, a few words about my company in case you are not familiar with our name. We are involved in the global exploration and production of oil and gas, and the supply of fuels and chemicals to consumers around the world.

Here in the UK, we are responsible for 10 per cent of the oil and gas from the North Sea, and provide 13 per cent of all the petroleum products that people use. Energy security is an issue at the moment, and we are working with our partner, Qatar Petroleum, to develop an LNG import terminal at Milford Haven in Wales, which is expected to meet 20 per cent of the UK's gas needs by 2009.

As well as providing products and services to our customers, we also pride ourselves on being a good corporate citizen. We have a long-standing tradition of investing in the community. Last year, ExxonMobil provided 133 million dollars in charitable contributions and community investment worldwide.

Wherever ExxonMobil operates in the world we like to play our part in the local community. In the UK, we support a range of community projects and initiatives, focusing on health and safety issues, education and volunteering.

We aim to support activities that provide lasting benefits and help to improve the quality of life for people. And, more and more these days, we are using volunteering to help us deliver our programmes.

Our experience of volunteering goes back a long way. It was over 20 years ago, for example, that we first teamed up with CSV. We see volunteering as an excellent way of getting people involved in their local communities. We encourage our own employees and their families to get involved in voluntary work by giving grants to the organisations they support. For two years running now we have organised ExxonMobil Day of Caring activities, with employees volunteering their services to work on community projects in company time.

It was our involvement with Year of the Volunteer 2005 that inspired us to establish the ExxonMobil Energy Challenge. ExxonMobil recognises the need to take action over the threat of climate change, and we are committed to improving and promoting energy efficiency at every level, from our own operations to individual households. In seeking to promote energy efficiency in the home, we wanted to build on the existing schemes, such as government grants and benefits, that help to tackle fuel poverty. We believe the use of volunteer support is a unique and innovative way of making contact with the vulnerable households that are hard to reach.

The Energy Challenge focuses on tackling fuel poverty at an individual level by showing people how to use fuel efficiently and reduce their consumption over the long term.

The programme is a partnership and ExxonMobil is very pleased to be working with Community Service Volunteers, National Energy Action in England, and Energy Action Scotland north of the border.

Here's how the Energy Challenge works. Vulnerable households are identified through current volunteer programmes and through referrals from GPs, social services, day centres and other relevant organisations. Volunteers from CSV's Retired and Senior Volunteer Programme visit these households in person. They offer practical advice on making small but effective changes to avoid wasting energy and to keep the home warm. They also offer advice and information on how to access further support, such as government grants for improving insulation.

In each area, Volunteer Energy Champions take the lead role in co-ordinating the challenge in their location, and they have teams of volunteers to help them. All the volunteers receive training, specialist advice and mentoring support, which is provided by National Energy Action in England, and Energy Action Scotland.

The Energy Challenge is being piloted in Greater London and in parts of Scotland until December 2007. Progress is being monitored and the project will be evaluated before being taken further afield. By the end of this pilot period it is expected that some 3,000 homes and 450 community venues in England and Scotland will have received visits.

Before I end my remarks, I would like to say a big thank you to everyone involved in the Energy Challenge. We are very grateful to our partners, CSV and NEA, and those in the steering group, for all their hard work and efforts in getting the programme up and running.

With the worldwide demand for energy growing, it is more necessary than ever that we all use energy efficiently to help minimise the impact on the environment, and to meet the challenges of sustainability. ExxonMobil looks forward to a successful project that will further the cause of energy efficiency, and help to improve the quality of life for people.

Thank you.