- Four CEOs rejected accusations of past or present wrongdoing in landmark Congressional hearings while funding past and present climate change denial campaigns
- The CEOs of ExxonMobil, BP America, Chevron, and Shell Oil told the U.S. House Oversight Committee on October 28 how these companies have lied about the climate crisis for decades. He testified in a landmark hearing about how he continued to follow him.
- Days before the United Nations' COP26 climate summit, hopes for more ambitious commitments to stem the climate emergency waned as CEOs reiterated industry talking points on green energy but avoided specific commitments or endorsements. I was frustrated. An independent report on Chevron documents $50.5 billion in unpaid environmental fines and damages worldwide, of which the company has paid only 0.006%.
- CEOs pointed to low-carbon investments, but a report released earlier this year found that clean energy accounted for just 1% of oil and gas capital spending in 2020, with 99% going to fossil fuels. It was getting worse.
The heads of the world's largest oil companies are trying to convince the public on climate change, despite evidence of impending environmental damage and funding of climate change denial campaigns presented in a landmark US Congressional hearing last week. He denied accusations of misleading.
Executives from ExxonMobil, BP America, Chevron and Shell Oil all appeared via Zoom to explain how the fossil fuel industry funds climate change denial and to explain decades of scientific knowledge about fossil fuels' impact on the planet. He also avoided suspicions that he had been hiding things. A hearing by the U.S. House Oversight Committee drew comparisons to tobacco industry fraud testimony from the 1990s about the harms of smoking.
“For too long, big oil companies have shied away from responsibility for playing a central role in pushing the planet to the brink of climate change. That ends today,” said Commission Chair Carolyn Maloney in her opening statement. said in a statement.
“The industry waged a systematic campaign to mislead the public, hide the dangers of their products, and derail global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, they lined their own pockets. She added, pointing to documents dating back to the 1970s showing that Exxon scientists knew about the link between fossil fuels and global warming but left the public with doubts about the science. did. Arena.
CEOs rejected that claim. “I don't think it's fair to judge what happened 25 years ago based on what we know today,” said Darren Woods, ExxonMobil's current CEO. It's not spreading,” he added.
Peers echoed similar sentiments, saying the fossil fuel industry is leading the world's transition to low-carbon energy.
“While our views on climate change have evolved over time, Chevron's efforts to spread disinformation and mislead the public about these complex issues are significant,” Chevron CEO Michael Wirth said in a statement. The idea that this is the case is completely false.”
Wirth, along with other executives, pointed to investments in renewable energy. However, according to the “World Energy Investment 2021” report released by the International Energy Agency in June, clean energy accounted for only 1% of the oil industry's capital investment in 2019, and the remaining 99% was fossil fuels. It was said to have been directed toward fuel.
Even if you just talk, you won't get results.
“There are no big surprises here. It's an important hearing, but I see it as a formality. Any form of punishment for these companies will not be the end.” Ilan Zugumante, director of Latin America for NGO 350.org, said in a phone interview from Mongabay. “They got away with the massive oil spills and environmental damage that happened just a few years ago, so it makes sense that they would avoid the charges of the 1970s and 1980s.”
Leaked documents discovered in 2015 show that ExxonMobil has known about climate change since 1981, and it wasn't alone. Multiple multinational fossil fuel companies regularly shared his climate research from 1979 to 1983 as part of an effort by the American Petroleum Institute, an oil industry trade group.
At last week's hearing, a question about environmental damage and paying for it came from Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who cited an independent report on Chevron's dismal global environmental performance. The report, compiled by environmental anthropologist Nan Greer, shows that big oil is responsible for billions of dollars in environmental damage. The company has paid just 0.006% of the $50.5 billion in fines imposed worldwide to compensate for direct environmental damage, the report said.
“Chevron has nearly 70 serious environmental impunity cases in 31 countries around the world and owes more than $50 billion in settlements. When are you going to write the check?” Tlaib said at the hearing.. “We can pollute the earth to make money, but we are going to protect it in order to survive.”
Mr Wirth said he was not familiar with the numbers cited, but Mr Greer, the report's author, said there was no point in claiming ignorance.
“It seems completely implausible that we don't know the amount of damages that are listed in the report,” Greer said after the hearing. “They factor in the risk of litigation when reporting the value of the company to shareholders,” Greer told Monbey. “I was surprised that Chevron's CEO didn't respond.”
“This shows that they have little or no concern about what they are doing to the environment, people and the planet's climate,” she said.
While CEOs at the hearing denied all responsibility for climate change and denied climate change, activists highlighted the ongoing negative impacts of their companies' businesses.
“Chevron is still hiding the impacts of its hydraulic fracturing in Argentina and oil and gas drilling in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Exxon is speaking without consulting the traditional communities affected by its drilling. It is based in northeastern Brazil,” said Zugumante of 350.org. “What we're seeing here is an expansion of the fossil fuel frontier. If that oil doesn't stay in the ground, we'll exceed the limits put in place to stop the climate emergency.” I guess.”
On October 24, Brazilian fishermen protested ExxonMobil's attempt to drill for oil without consulting traditional communities affected by its activities. They had applied to revoke ExxonMobil's drilling permit just a few weeks ago.
Big Oil continues to fund climate change denial
Ro Khanna, chairman of the Congressional Environment Subcommittee and a leading critic of the oil and gas industry, recently announced that, through his membership in the American Petroleum Institute, where he managed a multi-million dollar fund, current climate change denial He questioned executives about their continued financial support for the campaign. Campaign against electric cars and methane gas tax.
“You are funding these organizations,” Khanna said at an Oct. 28 hearing, adding, “If your funding is not supporting the core values that you claim to support, “If it's being sent to an organization that violates the law, don't you think we have a duty to monitor where it goes?” Will the money go? ”
Executives rejected calls from Khanna to commit to ending funding to groups actively engaged in climate disinformation.
With the United Nations' COP26 climate summit currently underway, pressure is mounting on the world's largest fossil fuel companies to reflect on past mistakes and demonstrate a real change in approach.
He is a historian at Harvard University and an author of merchant of suspicionThe book is about how fossil fuel companies sow doubts about climate science in public, but the hearings showed that American oil giants have been less proactive than their European counterparts.
“Admission by Shell [Oil] CEO [Gretchen Watkins] It was a defining moment for me when I learned that her company was planning to reduce emissions by reducing production, and that it was possible,” Oreskes told Mongabay in an email. told. “An alternative exists, but U.S. oil and gas companies refuse to accept it.”
“After 40 years of deception and delay, it's finally time for the fossil fuel industry to change its ways,” Maloney said. “The time has finally come for big oil to join us in this fight.”
With additional reporting by Genevieve Belmaker.
Banner image: Nemonte Nenquimo and Flor Tanguay show crude oil covering their gloves after dipping their hands in a polluted swamp outside Lago Agrio, Ecuador, in 2020. Image by Dan Collins of Mongabay.