OIL giant Esso has hit back at calls by The Body Shop for motorists to stop using its filling stations.

The women's and men's toiletries and cosmetics chain announced this week that it is backing its Boycott Esso Campaign.

Esso's parent company ExxonMobil, it says, has so far decided against supporting an international agreement -the Kyoto Protocol - to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The US government has also withdrawn from the project.

Body Shop founder and co-chairperson Anita Roddick, urged motorists: "Don't put Esso's tiger in your tank. Put a growl of protest in it instead."

But ExxonMobil, which refines 20 million tonnes of petrol per year at Fawley - Britain's biggest oil refinery - in Hampshire, has hit back.

It highlighted the work it is doing to cut emissions into the atmosphere and said in a statement: "We are taking action now and are also working with others to address the long-term risks of climate change.

"Those calling for a boycott of Esso claim that the company has never invested in renewable energy. This is not true.

"We have substantial experience in renewable energy, having participated in past commercial ventures with renewable energy, particularly solar, which involved us in expenditures of more than £500m."

It also suggested the Kyoto agreement was seriously flawed and would do more harm than good.

It added: "We fear it would impose significant costs in the developed world, while doing little to achieve its goal of reducing emissions."

The statement adds that a boycott "could harm the thousands of independent British businessmen and women and their staff who operate their stations in partnership with Esso in the UK".