After years of anticipation, ExxonMobil goes on trial this week. The oil major has been under scrutiny for years by several state attorneys general over allegations that the company intentionally misled shareholders over its risk to climate change. At issue is what Exxon told its investors versus what it documented internally. The New York Attorney General argues that the oil company privately knew that its risk to climate change was much greater than what it divulged publicly. The question is if that gap amounts to defrauding investors. “Exxon in effect erected a Potemkin village to create the illusion that it had fully considered the risks of future climate-change regulation,” the complaint from the NY AG filed last year reads. Exxon engaged in “a longstanding fraudulent scheme…to deceive investors and the investment community,” the document said. For years, Exxon has assured investors that while climate regulation was likely, its oil […]