Fossil fuel companies make billion-dollar profits from extracting and selling coal, oil and natural gas. They are also responsible for producing greenhouse gases, which cause climate change.
Despite being aware of the risks, some fossil fuel companies are spreading misinformation and obstructing policies to move away from fossil fuels. They must be held accountable for their actions.
Coal
The global energy industry has a huge opportunity to make a rapid shift away from fossil fuels and towards clean renewables. But a new analysis by InfluenceMap shows that big oil companies are spending far more on advertising about climate change than they are on green investments.
The world’s largest energy companies have publicly embraced the goal of reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. But this vision isn’t reflected in the decisions that they make with their money and lobbying power.
Fossil fuel companies are spending billions of dollars on advertising about their “green” investments—and at the same time investing millions in new coal, oil and natural gas production. It’s a clear sign that they aren’t taking the threat of climate change seriously.
It’s been more than a century since scientists first documented the link between fossil fuel burning and climate change. Now there is an overwhelming scientific consensus that Earth’s temperature is warming and human activities, particularly burning fossil fuels, are largely to blame. Global warming is already causing rising sea levels, devastating wildfires and destroying crops. The impacts are hitting low-income communities and people of color hardest.
But the fossil fuel industry is trying to hide its role in this disaster. It’s denying the science and attempting to confuse the public. And it’s working to limit the reach of the legal system, which could force it to hand over years of internal documents that reveal what its executives knew about climate change and when they knew it.
A lawsuit filed in Minnesota last fall aims to do just that. It accuses Exxon, Koch Industries and an industry trade group of deception, false advertising and consumer fraud. The lawsuit, like others across the country, alleges that fossil fuel companies have engaged in a campaign of misinformation to discredit and delay climate action. It’s a lawsuit that could force the oil companies to produce evidence of their misdeeds and expose their attempts to conceal them. It’s a process that could take years, but it’s a crucial one in the fight to protect our planet and the lives of people who depend on it.
Oil
Many of the world’s biggest fossil fuel companies, such as ExxonMobil, have come under scrutiny over their knowledge of climate change. The company was accused of spreading misinformation to protect its profits, and this has led to a series of lawsuits. In some cases, it is alleged that the company knew about climate change in the 1960s, and this evidence has been used to support claims that the company hid this information from the public.
The company’s scientists were aware of the risk posed by burning fossil fuels, and they warned management that the company would need to take steps to reduce its emissions. However, they were told that this would have a negative impact on the company’s bottom line. This was despite evidence that the planet was warming and that humans were responsible for this, and a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in the 1990s recommended limiting future greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to less than two degrees Celsius.
In recent years, politicians and environmentalists have accused the company of delaying action on climate change by funding organisations that spread doubt about the science. It has also been alleged that it funded front organisations with neutral, scientific-sounding names. For example, the US House of Representatives Oversight Committee alleges that ExxonMobil funded the George C Marshall Institute, which was involved in a sham petition to President Bush to deny manmade global climate change.
A number of lawmakers have called for an end to fossil fuel industry funding for groups that discredit climate science. They argue that such money is preventing the country from taking effective action to curb global warming and is harming the lives of poor people, particularly those in low-income communities.
Despite this, it is important to recognise that not all fossil fuel companies are bad, and that some have taken a constructive approach towards tackling climate change. For instance, some have embraced the goal of becoming net zero carbon businesses by 2050.
The overarching issue is that fossil fuel corporations have failed to address climate change adequately and are allowing a dangerous planetary crisis to escalate. As a result, policies that aim to limit climate change must be rigorously applied. Those policies must focus on reducing demand for fossil fuels, not simply lowering GHG emissions. This is why efforts that restrict fossil fuel production, such as eliminating oil and gas drilling on US public lands or banning hydraulic fracturing, are so important.
Natural Gas
Natural gas has been billed as a “cleaner” alternative to coal and oil because it produces significantly less climate-warming pollution when burned. Unfortunately, it also emits a substantial amount of greenhouse gases (GHGs) during its production and transmission. In addition, methane, the primary constituent of natural gas, is a potent GHG that traps heat in the atmosphere 28 to 36 times more effectively than carbon dioxide. Minimizing methane releases along the natural gas value chain is one of the most important things we can do to reduce its climate footprint.
Natural gas is extracted from shale and other types of sedimentary rock by forcing water, chemicals and sand down a well under high pressure. This process, known as hydraulic fracturing or fracking, enables access to fossil fuels that wouldn’t be economically viable to produce using older technology. Since the late 1980s, fracking has become increasingly efficient and widespread as companies develop new technologies and obtain regulatory waivers. As a result, the United States has become the world’s largest producer of natural gas, displacing Russia.
Once drilled, natural gas is sent through pipelines to locations where it will be used for electricity generation, heating homes and businesses, and as a raw material for various industrial processes. Demand varies daily and seasonally, so natural gas is stored in large volumes underground to be available when needed.
The natural gas industry is committed to reducing its environmental impact through innovation, cultivating a diverse and inclusive workforce, and exceeding customer expectations. The AGA Playbook is an excellent resource for anyone interested in learning more about how the American natural gas industry is delivering on its commitment to sustainability, affordability and innovation.
The United States is the second-largest GHG emitter, and most of our emissions come from burning fossil fuels. However, reducing U.S. GHG emissions alone will not be enough to mitigate the impacts of climate change. Significantly reducing global demand for fossil fuels by phasing out their combustion without carbon capture and storage or use, along with other GHG-reducing measures like energy efficiency and renewable energy, will be necessary.
Tar
As the world faces climate change, fossil fuel companies are trying to portray themselves as clean energy leaders. But the reality is they’re using their billions to fund climate denial and delay action. Now, lawsuits by coastal cities, Midwestern states watching “mega-rains” wreak havoc and fishing communities struggling with declining catches are demanding that they take responsibility for the damage their products cause.
The fossil fuel industry is facing a reckoning. For decades, it has hidden evidence that burning its products is causing climate change and misleading the public about its effects. A growing field of research called attribution science links heat-trapping gases from the burning of fossil fuels to quantifiable changes in our climate — like rising temperatures, sea levels and ocean acidification. Several new lawsuits allege that ExxonMobil, the US’s largest oil company, engaged in a decades-long conspiracy to deceive customers and investors by funding groups with neutral, scientific-sounding names to deny the existence of manmade global warming.
Exxon’s own scientists documented the effects of fossil fuel combustion on our planet’s climate, and in 1978, it even equipped one of its tankers with equipment to monitor air and water temperatures to track carbon dioxide emissions. But, year after year, its executives continued to invest in fossil fuels and ignore the mounting scientific warnings.
Today, Exxon is facing a wave of lawsuits filed by cities and states across the country – all accusing it of hiding what it knew about climate change while pushing its products to consumers. Unlike the tobacco lawsuits, which were settled out of court in 2000, these cases are being prosecuted under a civil law known as the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). And they’re likely to go all the way to the Supreme Court.
To avoid catastrophic climate change, the world needs to stop producing and consuming fossil fuels and transition to a net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) economy by 2050. Many of the world’s biggest oil and gas companies support these goals publicly, but their lobbying and spending suggest they have no intention of slowing down their fossil fuel production.
