Oil and Gas Industry Publicly Supports Climate Action While Secretly Subverting Process, New Analysis Shows

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A new report recently released by InfluenceMap shows a number of oil and gas companies publicly throwing their support behind climate initiatives are simultaneously obstructing those same efforts through lobbyingย activities.

The report, Big Oil and the Obstruction of Climate Regulations, comes on the heels of the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative, a list of climate measures released by the CEOs of 10 major oil and gas companies including BP, Shell, Statoil andย Total.

According to InfluenceMap the initiative is an attempt by leading energy companies to โ€œimprove their image in the face of longstanding criticism of their business practices ahead of UN COP 21 climate talks inย Paris.โ€

โ€œThe big European companies behind the OGCIโ€ฆwill come under ever greater scrutiny, as the distance between the companiesโ€™ professed positions and the realities of the lobbying actions of their trade bodies grows ever starker,โ€ InfluenceMap stated in a pressย release.

The groupโ€™s analysis shows a major disconnect between climate rhetoric and action among three key policy strands: carbon tax, emissions trading and greenhouse has emissionsย regulations.

The findings show companies like Shell and Total publicly support carbon pricing while at the same time support trade organizations that systematically obstruct the legislationโ€™sย implementation.

Oil majors BP, Chevron and Exxon also support these lobby groups but spend less time publicly supporting a price on carbon.ย ย 

Dylan Tanner, executive director of InfluenceMap, said industry is becoming more cautious of public oversight and as a result, has become subtler with its efforts to subvert climateย progress.ย 

โ€œCompanies like Shell appear to have shifted their direct opposition to climate legislation to certain key trade associations in the wake of increasing scrutiny,โ€ Tannerย said.

โ€œInvestors and engagers need to be aware that these powerful energy and chemicals-sector trade bodies are financed by, and act on the instruction of, their key members and should thus be regarded as extensions of such corporate-member activity andย positions.โ€

The report shows Shellโ€™s official messaging is wildly inconsistent with the positions of its tradeย associations.

Shell, for example, states on its website, โ€œwe support an international framework that puts a price on CO2.โ€ However, green taxation working group BusinessEurope warned against such measures, suggesting they could threaten the โ€œinternational competitiveness of EUย industry.โ€

Shell executive An Theeuwes is chair of BusinessEurope’s Green Taxation Working Group.*

Excerpt from InfluenceMap report shows disconnect between Shell’s corporate statements and those of trade organizations supported byย Shell.

Shell is also on the board of a powerful chemicals trade body in Europe, the CEFIC, that lobbied aggressively against the European Emissions Tradingย Scheme.

Shell is also a member of the American Petroleum Instituteย and the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, North America’s two most powerful industry lobby groups actively involved in opposing climate legislation. API‘s CEO recently criticized the UN climate talks as driven by a โ€œnarrow political ideologyโ€ and CAPP has previously disregarded opposition to the Alberta oilsands as merely โ€œideologicalโ€ while arguing against new emissionsย standards.ย 

โ€œIf oil and gas companies calling for a price on carbon want to be taken seriously it is imperative that they commit both to calling on governments to implement such a policy and at the same time ensuring that all their lobbying is 100 per cent consistent with this objective,โ€ Anthony Hobley, CEO of Carbon Tracker, said.ย ย 

โ€œThis is a strong line to take that has to be held accountable by investors, shareholders, governments and theย public.โ€

Carbon Tracker recently released a report that finds energy companies rely too heavily on industry scenarios that project high fossil fuel consumption in the future. The analysis shows industry uses high demand assumptions โ€œto justify new and costly capital investment toย shareholders.โ€

Companies that are inconsistent in what they say publicly and do behind the scenes donโ€™t deserve to be taken seriously, Hobleyย said.

This kind of disingenuous activity โ€œshould be seen for what it is,โ€ he said: โ€œa cynical attempt to manipulate public opinion and create the perception amongst shareholders that the company is taking the issue of climate changeย seriously.โ€

* This article was updated to reflectย An Theeuwes’ position as chair ofย BusinessEurope’s Green Taxation Workingย Group.

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