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A US House investigation shows how major fossil fuel companies contradict their public messages in favour of climate action while seeking to undermine or sabotage climate measures to protect their profits, writes Chloé Mikolajczak.
Chloé Mikolajczak is the coordinator of the Fossil Free Politics campaign.
Revelations that fossil fuel majors do not plan to adhere to needed emission reductions beg the question of the industry’s unchecked influence on decision-making in the EU.
Continued interference of fossil fuel interest is unbearable and immoral at a time when the climate and energy crisis are raging and it needs to end.
“Please do not give the impression that Shell is willing to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to levels that do not make business sense”.
This quote, from internal Shell documents, is part of thousands of pages of internal documents uncovered in a US House investigation of climate disinformation that shows how several fossil fuel executives contradict their companies’ public messages on climate.
The content of email exchanges, internal presentations and memos that oil & gas majors were forced to turn over to congressional investigators are just the latest example of how companies such as Shell, Exxon, Chevron and BP lie to decision-makers and the public when it comes to the reduction of their greenhouse gas emissions.
Documents from ExxonMobil for instance show how the company (despite publicly supporting the Paris agreement) urged the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative, an industry group it is part of, to remove any reference to it that “could create a potential commitment to advocate on the Paris Agreement goals.”
And while the major spent millions on ads to promote algae as a “sustainable” transport fuel, in a September 2018 presentation, Exxon stated “the technology is “still decades away from the scale we need.”
Disregard for and active steps to block climate action are not limited to internal discussions: last year, an undercover video by Greenpeace UK revealed how ExxonMobil fights climate science and operates behind closed doors to weaken climate regulation.
How can we expect policies to be developed for the common good when the industry responsible for the crisis is consulted and asked for advice at every step despite evidence regularly showing they’re doing everything they can to weaken and delay action?
While the US House investigation mainly covers US companies, the story is similar in Europe. Investigations such as #TotalKnew and #ShellKknew have uncovered how these companies knew the devastating impact of their products but used an array of tactics to deny the science and weaken, delay or sabotage effective climate measures. All in the name of protecting their profits.
REPowerEU, the European Commission’s plan to wean Europe off Russian fossil fuels, included the creation of an EU Energy Platform for joint purchases of gas, LNG and hydrogen which will also identify new gas infrastructure needs and say which measures are “feasible”.
This Platform is advised by the gas industry. The gas industry also collaborated with the Commission on defining priority projects included in REPowerEU and which can get access to EU public money, representing a glaring conflict of interest.
This platform is the latest in a long line of ways in which the fossil fuel industry has managed to integrate itself into the heart of the EU’s climate and energy policymaking.
ENTSO-G – a gas company lobby group – has helped secure over €4 billion in EU subsidies for its members’ gas infrastructure projects, and the Von der Leyen Commission has met with representatives from the fossil fuel industry almost once per day in the first half of its mandate.
These recent US revelations show once again: the fossil fuel industry is anything but a trusted ally in combating the energy and climate crises.
The time has come for European decision-makers to stop being complacent with the industry and take a firm stance against their undue influence.
In short, it’s time to limit the powerful voices wanting to maintain the status quo and kick fossil fuels out of our politics once and for all. We need Fossil Free Politics.
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