Oil and gas companies have increasingly come under legal attack over their role in contributing to global warming. Yet, unlike other industries that face tougher regulations, they have not abandoned their climate marketing claims.
It’s a strategy rolled out since the early 2000s, in the wake of the Kyoto Protocol, which aimed to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
As a result, firms largely dropped their denial of climate change and promoted themselves as essential players in the energy transition. More recently, they have extolled investments in carbon capture, biofuels, solar energy and hydrogen power.
But for critics, the claims obscure the reality that drilling for oil and gas continues unabated. ‘They’re giving false reassurance, like: Don’t worry, we don’t need to change anything,’ said Benjamin Franta, a professor of climate litigation at Oxford University. ‘Greenwashing is just as important as climate denial, and in some ways it’s even more important because it’s the more dominant form of false reassurance,’ he adds.