From Geoffrey Supran and Naomi Oreskes, this rhetorical analysis of Exxon’s communications about climate change over recent decades shows how the company’s advertisements worked to shift responsibility for global warming away from the fossil fuel industry and onto consumers. Exxon also said that climate change was a “risk”, rather than a reality, that renewable energy is unreliable, and that the fossil fuel industry offered meaningful leadership on climate change. We show that much of this rhetoric is similar to that used by the tobacco industry. The research suggests warning signs that the fossil fuel industry is using the subtle micro-politics of language to downplay its role in the climate crisis and to continue to undermine climate litigation, regulation, and activism.