Irish environmentalists demonstrated at Esso petrol stations in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Kilkenny at the weekend as part of an international StopEsso" campaign aimed at putting pressure on the company to change its stance on climate change.
Friends of the Earth Ireland, Friends of the Irish Environment, the Green Party, Grian and Voice branded Esso's parent company, Exxon Mobil, as the "world's biggest climate villain" because of its "dirty tricks" campaign to undermine the Kyoto Protocol.
Joined by television presenter Duncan Stewart, StopEsso cheerleaders started the Dublin protest at the Esso petrol station in Rathmines chanting "One, two, three, four, don't buy Esso anymore", while protesters handed out leaflets and car stickers.
Also taking part were the Green Party politicians Mr Eamon Ryan TD and Ms Patricia McKenna MEP. The campaign's co-ordinator, Mr William St Leger, said the protest would send a strong message to Esso to stop "sabotaging" the Kyoto Protocol.
"Esso is doing more than any other company to sabotage international action on climate change and it's keeping the US hooked on oil." Exxon Mobil is being targeted because campaigners maintain it denies the scientific link between the use of fossil fuels and global warming and will not invest in alternative sources of energy, such as wind or solar power.
The international StopEsso campaign was launched by Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth in May 2001 after the US pulled out of the Kyoto Protocol. Since then, it has spread to seven countries, with a million people in Britain boycotting the company.
Deutsche Bank recently called the campaign a "brand risk" and questioned the company's ability to "deal with the new environmental age." According to the bank's London-based analysts, Esso has most to gain from a "regime change" in Iraq.
On its website, Exxon Mobil has condemned StopEsso as a "smear campaign", saying the information that underpinned it was "extraordinarily inaccurate and paints a highly misleading picture of our company, our views and our actions".
It describes climate change as "a serious issue" and says Esso has expressed its views "openly, honestly and legitimately. The suggestion that we 'deny' climate change is simply not true." It also says it is involved in developing "cleaner, greener products".
