Fossil fuel giants aren't putting their money where their mouths are While spending hundreds of millions of dollars each year to look better on climate change, some of the world's largest oil and gas companies are also spending a lot of money on their own renewable energy activities.
InfluenceMap found that an average of 60 percent of public communications from the five companies contained at least one green claim. The company is moving away from pollution. That company supports reduced emissions. Less than 25% of communication materials promoted oil and gas.
According to the report, these companies spend $750 million a year on climate messaging. The authors point out that this should be seen as a conservative estimate of the total resources allocated to climate-related PR and marketing, as it doesn't include the use of any external agencies for PR, marketing, and advertising.
Oil company investments remained firmly in the realm of fossil fuels even though they were hyping up a supposed climate-friendly shift. According to InfluenceMap, just 12% of the corporations projected capital expenditures are expected to go towards low carbon activities. Money spent on developing energy sources other than oil and gas can still be considered low carbon investment.
Five of the largest fossil fuel producers are staying committed to the energy strategy that gave us climate change in the first place. The need to combat climate change and cease fossil fuel reliance has never been more apparent.
This has been a banner year for Exxon and Chevron, as they benefit from global turmoil and inflated fuel and energy prices.
The campaign to portray themselves as pro-climate is part of the communications spending. We see continued investment into this unsustainable energy system, mostly for fossil fuels.
The report authors looked at over 3000 items of public communications material from the year 2021, including marketing, public relations, and policy engagement actions. They looked at company staffing data and came up with estimates on the cost of communication.
The amount of money companies are expected to spend on green investments this year was assessed by the think-tank. The result is striking.
Exxon and other oil companies have a history of deceiving the public about their environmental harms. Corporations spent decades fighting climate science and spreading misinformation. In order to spread local news and propaganda in Texas, Chevron started its own news room.
The report states that these companies are overemphasizing energy transition technologies. According to the authors, their findings raise serious and persistent questions for regulators and the companies' shareholders, as well as PR and advertising agencies, the media, and social media platforms that work with the companies.
Shell spent only 10% of its capital expenditures on "low carbon" work, while making 70% of its public communications. ExxonMobil spent only 8% on its self-proclaimed green investments and put dubious climate declarations in 65% of its communications.
The French-owned TotalEnergies was projected to spend the most on its energy transition with 25% of its capital expenditures slated for low carbon investment.
TotalEnergies was found to be lobbying for the development of new fossil fuel infrastructure.
Gizmodo reached out to each of the fossil fuel companies, but did not get a response. The American Petroleum Institute directed Gizmodo to its climate action framework.
In an email, Megan said the following:
API member companies continue to make investments towards innovation, research, and best practices to further reduce GHG emissions and tackle the climate challenge. In reality, the International Energy Agency estimates that natural gas and oil will account for nearly half of the global energy mix by 2040 even if all 193 parties meet their Paris-based climate commitments. Our industry has contributed to the significant progress the U.S. has made in reducing America’s CO2 emissions to near generational lows with the increased use of natural gas.
Natural gas is still one of the dirtiest fuels. The benchmarks of the Paris Agreement are not enough to save the planet. If we want to avoid the worst-case scenarios, we can't extract coal, oil, and gas from already developed mines.
If we want to have any chance of avoiding temperature rise over 2 degrees Celsius, about half of all fossil fuels need to stay in the ground, according to a report by Oil Change International.
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