Large oil companies remain a serious obstacle to the future of the planet. One study estimates that oil companies spend at least $750 million each year. climate marketing” they plan to dedicate only 12% of their total investment to decarbonisation.
This comes out in a new analysis recently published by the climate change think tank. Impact Map showing the difference between what the fossil fuel industry spends on green advertising campaigns and what it actually does to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions responsible for global warming.
The “Big Oil’s Real Agenda 2022” study is the result of an analysis of more than 3,000 messages initiated by the world’s five largest hydrocarbon producing companies: British BP, Dutch Shell, French TotalEnergies and Americans ExxonMobil and Chevron.
Researchers looked at each of their traditional organic advertisements on physical media such as media and billboards, but also at corporate communication channels, blogs or secondary websites, social networks, conversations and press releases.
environmental commitments
His analysis concluded that: 60% of messages launched by these companies in 2021 included: references to environmental commitmentsWhile the figure varies from one to another, it is something for the authors that illustrates the cultural differences embodied in their marketing strategies: Europeans, for example, put more emphasis on the ecological question.
Shell is the company with the greenest arguments in its messages: 70% of its public communications have at least one environmental reference, while 49% of Chevron-initiated messages refer to this topic.
The authors also calculated how much these oil and gas companies spend on green advertising campaigns: about 750 million dollars a year, A “conservative” estimate of the total resources devoted to public relations and “marketing” on climate change, they warn, “because it does not involve the use of any outside agency.”
They then compared this figure to what companies expect to dedicate to low-carbon activities in 2022; this is an expenditure for property investments that only make up 12% of their total budget (this is Between $87,000 and $96,000 million).
They also focused on the disparity between the lobbying of these multinational companies and the “importance of climate public communication”. Their research revealed that all of these companies, except TotalEnergies, “are engaging directly with policymakers to advocate for policies that encourage new oil and gas development in 2021-22.”
In contrast, no company provided the data that the authors requested, demonstrating compliance with environmental commitments, according to Efe. Faye Holder, co-author of the report and Impact Map researcheralso not available for public access.
A case of “greenwashing”?
The expert emphasizes that although the difference between green “marketing” expenditures and investment in decarbonization indicates that it is a “greenwash” or green imagewashing situation, this particular term has been avoided since its legal definition. this practice is currently regulated (at least in the UK and the European Union).
Holder, on the other hand, argues that if lawyers have so far focused on advertising campaigns – just in case – consumer fraud cases-, the think tank beware of other misleading green promises that go beyond traditional advertising.
“In the past, big oil companies have used very direct denial tactics to stop climate action, but over time the public has embraced some of these tactics and become more concerned about the growing climate impacts. messages are now much more subtle and nuanced” he continues.
This, he warns, “is the latest evolution of the trend of using public communications to suggest that these oil companies are acting in favor of climate change, something that masks what they actually do in their business operations and pressure groups. and again how they are trying to delay climate action.”
Full report: https://influencemap.org/report/Big-Oil-s-Agenda-on-Climate-Change-2022-19585
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