Oil giants actively undermining global efforts to curb the climate crisis

Oil giants have been spreading disinformation as part of a decades-long campaign to shut down important environmental policies. 

A new report from US congressional Democrats is the culmination of a nearly three year investigation into Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Shell, BP, The American Petroleum Institute (AI) and the Chamber of Commerce. It shows the substantial efforts these fossil fuel companies go to in order to deceive both the public and investors on the impact of their products on the climate. It also shows how they are actively undermining global efforts to curb the climate crisis. 

Purposeful deception

Oil companies are set to stand trial in 32 different lawsuits. These showed that oil companies own research, including Exxon, BP, and Shell projected the dangers of the climate crisis years ago. 

Back in 1957, Scientists working at what is now Exxon mobil published a paper on the dilution of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the ocean. The paper states: 

Although appreciable amounts of carbon dioxide have undoubtedly been added from soils by tilling of land, apparently a much greater amount has resulted from the combustion of fossil fuels.

In September 2015, reporting by Inside Climate News and the Los Angeles Times revealed that Big Oil companies, such as Exxon Mobil, knew that burning fossil fuels was a major contributor to climate change. Of course, companies publicly rejected the reporting at the time. An early draft of Exxon’s response accused reporters of “journalistic malpractice”.  However, new documents show that internally, fossil fuel companies did not dispute the findings. 

In emails from 2016, Alan Jeffers – a Media Relations manager for Exxon Mobil, sent the following to Corporate Communications Advisor, Pamela Kevelson, who happens to still work for Exxon. 

It’s true that InsideClimate News originally accused us of working against science but ultimately modified their accusation to working against policies meant to stop climate change, such as Kyoto. 

I’m ok either way since they were both true at one time or another

This damning email – of which multiple were released by the Senate yesterday show a clear admission, whilst Exxon were publicly rejecting the claims. 

In an even more disturbing email from 2015, Pamela Kevelson said:

They saw an opportunity to concoct a story that ExxonMobil was publicly sowing doubt on climate change while secretly planning to profit from it. Why did they see that? Because that’s what they wanted to see. It is a common trap for journalists to assume the worst of large corporations…

Not only did she deny allegations, she blamed the journalists who were trying to hold Exxon to account.

Dangerous propaganda

The new investigation also demonstrates that oil companies have been trying to portray natural gas as a climate-friendly fuel. Simultaneously, they acknowledged internally that significant scientific evidence suggests the emissions from natural gas are as harmful as coal. Therefore, they are incompatible with scientific emissions reduction targets.  

In 2016, Chevron announced its support for the Paris Agreement and called it a ‘’good first step”. The internal documents suggest they never genuinely committed to the agreement, or changed their position to cosy up to the Trump Administration.

Maryland Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin, who co-authored the report with Rhode Island Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse told AFP:

Big Oil has run campaigns to confuse and mislead the public while working unceasingly to lock down a fossil fuel future.

Big Oil continues to conceal the facts about their business model and obscure the actual dangers of fossil fuels, including natural gas, in order to block the climate action we need.

Notably, fossil fuel giants also rely on trade associations to spread misleading narratives and to lobby against climate action. By using trade associations, think tanks, and other nonprofits they are able to influence public policy proposals. Top offenders include the API and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, along with several others. 

New emails between the fossil fuel executives and these groups demonstrate how the companies have influenced these organisations. This has allowed them to both amplify and lobby for Big Oil’s messaging and unpopular proposals.

The new report clearly lays out that Industry communications brushed aside scientists’ warnings. Choosing to emphasise the uncertainty around climate science, rather than the actual science. 

Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse

Feature image via GuavaTrain/Wikimedia, cropped and resized to 1200 by 900, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0