Facing calls for boycotts against it by environmental groups, ExxonMobil Corp is preparing to a public relations blitz through editorials and advertisements running in top U.S. newspapers today.

The editorials will be placed in newspapers including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post, according to a terse, three-paragraph letter Exxon Mobil has written to the environmental group Greenpeace.

In the letter, which was obtained from company sources and will be sent later this week, the company tells Greenpeace its policy toward climate change has been outlined in editorials around the country. "Our message to them is: 'If you want to know where we stand, read it in the papers,'" said one executive for the Irving, Texas-based company.

The letter comes against a backdrop of rising tensions between environmental groups and multinational oil companies, many of which were highly critical of the Kyoto Protocol, which urged industrial countries to cut carbon dioxide and other gas emissions by an average of 5.2 per cent below 1990 levels by 2002.

At a meeting in Australia on Tuesday, 700 delegates to the inaugural Global Greens Conference voted unanimously for a grass-roots campaign against companies such as ExxonMobil, saying they pressed U.S. government officials not to ratify the Kyoto Protocol.

ExxonMobil, in the New York Times opinion piece, indeed describes the Kyoto Protocol approach as a "serious mistake," and lists a handful of proposals it has made for managing the risks of climate change.

The proposals include encouraging voluntary actions such as greater energy efficiency in homes and businesses; promoting the protection and expansion of forests; and additional scientific research.

Exxon Mobil goes on to say that its proposals "avoid regulatory straight-jackets and invite participation by all nations." "This approach also offers the opportunity for all companies, the scientific community and governments to work together on a climate policy that makes sense for the future," the piece says.

ExxonMobil also points to recent statements from the White House as providing "new realism" on the Kyoto Protocol and climate change. During his campaign, President George W. Bush said he would act to reduce carbon emissions, but later reversed his policy when he said new information pointed to a growing national energy crisis.