Does Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson deserve in a clean energy ranking? He's an unabashed climate change skeptic; He has dubbed ethanol "snake oil" and his company plows tens of billion of dollars every year on the exploration and production of oil and gas.

So why is Tillerson's name even appearing on Green Energy Reporter's latest “Top 10 Players in Green Energy” ranking -- (he's number five and was in fourth place in the October ranking).

It's really about scale. Yes, Exxon is a carbon-loaded company and will likely stay that way for a long time. But the company is also backed by a massive balance sheet and so is able to invest a chunk of these revenues -- certainly a lot more than some of the sector's leading venture capital fund – to back clean energy initiatives.

Take Exxon's massive investment last summer in algae-based biofuel maker Synthetic Genomics, the company launched by J. Craig Venter, the scientist known for decoding the human genome in the 1990s.
All be it Synthetic will have to meet a set of specific benchmarks to access the whole $600 million investment pot. However, its mere size does give Exxon undeniable clout in the clean energy debate.

Tillerson is obviously not an environmentalist a la Al Gore, but him, and the company he leads, are some of the clean energy sector’s most important actors. This is particularly true in this cash constrained world, where their balance sheets are able to support large investments.

Exxon’s investment clout has also given Tillerson a pulpit, which he uses to question the validity of climate change and advocates the ongoing dominance of carbon-based energy. But while Tillerson’s position might run counter to the green movement but much like its green investments, they can’t be ignored.

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