Big Oil's 25-Year Climate Ads: What They Really Concealed [Report]
A new report reveals how four major oil and gas companies have spent 25 years misleading the public about their climate efforts. BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, and Shell allegedly used over 300 advertisements to project an image as climate leaders while simultaneously expanding fossil fuel production and doing little to truly reduce planet-warming emissions. This extensive analysis by the Center for Climate Integrity report found that the companies masked their harmful operations and perpetuated a false narrative, significantly contributing to the worsening global climate crisis. The findings highlight how the industry pivoted from outright climate denial to promoting "false solutions" like natural gas and carbon capture, thereby delaying meaningful action and a genuine shift to sustainable energy. This deception has obstructed collective efforts towards a cleaner future for decades.
For the past 25 years, some of the world’s largest oil and gas companies have been presenting a misleading picture of their efforts to combat climate change, according to a recent report. BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, and Shell have used over 300 climate-related advertisements since 2000 to appear as environmental leaders, all while significantly increasing their fossil fuel output and doing little to reduce planet-warming emissions. This extensive analysis by the Center for Climate Integrity report reveals a calculated strategy to mask the true environmental impact of their operations and slow progress toward a cleaner future.
The report outlines several ways these companies have misled the public. They often exaggerated their actions to cut greenhouse gas emissions, focusing only on their own operational emissions while ignoring the vast pollution from the products they sell. Investments in renewable energy were also significantly overblown, making up only a tiny fraction of their overall spending. Companies also promoted 'solutions' like natural gas, carbon capture, and hydrogen as green alternatives. However, natural gas is mostly methane, a potent greenhouse gas, and carbon capture often helps extract more oil, further prolonging our reliance on fossil fuels. Even hydrogen and algae biofuels, touted as clean, are largely dependent on fossil fuels or never saw serious investment, like ExxonMobil's algae efforts which ended in 2022.
This long-running campaign of deception isn't just about misleading ads; it has real-world consequences, delaying the urgent shift to clean energy and hindering crucial climate action. These companies have effectively maintained their social license to operate while making the climate crisis worse, hindering our collective efforts to protect the planet. It’s particularly concerning given that some of these companies, like BP and Shell, have recently scaled back their already limited commitments to reducing emissions and investing in low-carbon solutions, further underscoring the gap between their public image and actual actions.
The Center for Climate Integrity's findings are intended to support the growing number of lawsuits seeking to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for their deceptive practices and the climate harms they've caused. As global temperatures continue to rise, transparent and honest communication about climate solutions and commitments is more vital than ever for driving genuine environmental progress.