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The investigation of Exxon Mobil by the New York Attorney General's office into the climate change records of the company may open up a Pandora's Box of legal inquiries into other companies in oil industry too, even when the persecutions may or may not happen necessarily. There are many oil companies that have been at the forefront of climate change studies and research so the prosecutors will have vast material to look into. The oil industry has been pressurized for years from the environmental factions that as the stricter emissions come into force, it can have an impact on the business. As per Stephen Zamora, Professor at the University of Houston Law Center, "Exxon Mobil is not alone. This is not likely to be an isolated matter", reports New York Times.

According to the people who are acquainted with the Exxon Mobil investigation, Attorney General Eric T. Scheidermann released a subpoena to the company on Wednesday evening asking for exhaustive list of emails, records and the financial records. The investigation will focus on whether the statements made by the company to its investors regarding the climatic risks recently were consistent with its own scientific research or not. Kenneth P. Cohen, Vice President for Public Affairs at Exxon Mobil, confirmed that the company has received the Subpoena and is still contemplating the response. He said, "We unequivocally reject the allegations that Exxon Mobil has suppressed climate change research," adding that the company has been a frontrunner for climate science since the 1970s and has also published copious amounts of scientific papers while disclosing the climatic risks to the investors, as reported by New York Times. Michael Webber, Deputy Director of Energy Institute at the University of Texas, said "The oil and gas industry has probably been the biggest funder of research into de-carbonization, maybe more even than the federal government".