A “grassroots” group called Canada Action has run nationwide ads on billboards, buses and social media promoting fossil fuels. An industry organization known as the Conference Board of Canada has produced reports claiming climate policy will cause dire economic impacts. The Fraser Institute think tank has questioned whether the climate emergency is real. 

These groups may differ in their strategies and audiences. But they and several other anti-climate organizations across the country share something that may not be obvious to the public or policymakers – they’ve all received funding from Cenovus Energy, the country’s second-largest producer of oil and gas. 

That’s according to a corporate “advocacy” document from Cenovus that reveals the company contributed financially in 2023 to prominent advocacy groups in Canada that have disputed climate science, pushed for exports of climate-harming fossil fuels and fought legislation aimed at shifting towards cleaner forms of energy. 

The document, which was posted on the Cenovus website and newly reviewed by DeSmog, doesn’t give specific dollar amounts, other than to note whether contributions are above or below $25,000. But to climate advocates like Leah Temper of the non-profit Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, it’s evidence of a “a very tried and true strategy” – an oil and gas company that publicly says it supports climate solutions while quietly backing groups doing everything they can to undermine those solutions.   

“It shows you how this entire playbook works, a major oil producer funding these astroturf groups to get its message out without being the voice itself,” she said. 

Cenovus, which last year produced 586,000 barrels of oil per day from Canada’s oil sands, didn’t respond to detailed questions from DeSmog about its contributions. 

‘Not Grassroots at All’

Cenovus reported donating to dozens of organizations. Many of them are trade associations and local chambers of commerce. But some are explicitly political, regularly arguing in public against transformative climate action. Several of those groups portray themselves publicly as movements representing the concerns of everyday Canadians. 

The advocacy group Canada Action is one of the most prominent fossil fuel advertisers in the country and has been named in city efforts to ban false oil and gas ads. Though previous reporting from The Narwhal has revealed that it’s received funding from the fossil fuel company ARC Resources, the group continues to describe itself “as a grassroots organization that encourages Canadians to work together to take action in support of our vital natural resource sectors and the communities and families they support.” 

Another organization called the Consumer Energy Alliance, which has a long history of fighting climate laws in the U.S. and promoting Canadian oil and gas interests, calls itself “the voice of the energy consumer” and says it represents a “grassroots coalition.”

Both groups are listed in Cenovus’ “advocacy and memberships” document. “They are obviously not grassroots at all,” Temper told DeSmog. 

The company explains on its website that “we urge the third-party groups we support to be fact-driven in their public positioning and solutions-oriented. Cenovus supports groups that are generally aligned with our corporate objectives, strategy, targets and ambition, recognizing that industry groups must balance the diverse views of their members and perfect alignment with Cenovus’s priorities is not always possible.” 

Neither Canada Action nor the Consumer Energy Alliance responded to questions from DeSmog.

Ridiculing the Climate Emergency

Cenovus has stated publicly that it supports aggressive action to confront the climate emergency. It’s a founding member of the Pathways Alliance, an industry marketing and lobbying group that throughout 2023 blanketed Canada with advertisements and press statements claiming that the industry was “on the journey to net zero emissions.” 

Yet some of the third-party groups Cenovus contributed to tell a much different story.

Cenovus made a contribution in 2023 worth more than $25,000 to the Fraser Institute, a Vancouver-based libertarian think tank whose senior fellow Kenneth Green argued that year in the Calgary Sun that net-zero is “the pathway to Canadian decline.” The Institute had previously promoted an op-ed ridiculing the idea of a climate emergency, calling it “an abuse of language and common sense.”

The Fraser Institute is a top Canadian purveyor of climate disinformation, bragging in 2009 that one of its biggest intellectual contributions over the course of several decades was bringing “to public attention the uncertainties of climate science.” A report published by the group in 2014 incorrectly claimed that “there has been no statistically significant temperature change for the past 15 to 20 years.” 

Cenovus also contributed to the Macdonald Laurier Institute, a libertarian think tank whose senior fellow Chris Sankey in 2023 argued that the federal Liberal goal of achieving net-zero emissions in Canada was an “anti-growth agenda.” 

The Fraser Institute and the Macdonald Laurier Institute didn’t respond to questions from DeSmog. 

Fighting the Oil and Gas Emissions Cap

Cenovus has been outspoken in its opposition to the federal cap on oil and gas emissions proposed by Canada’s federal government, with its current president and CEO Jon McKenzie telling the Narwhal last year that “We’ve been pretty clear that we don’t need a cap.”

Throughout 2023, the company contributed to groups that have also advocated against the policy, which is designed to reduce the industry’s greenhouse gas emissions to 35 percent below 2019 levels. 

Cenovus donated to the Indigenous Resource Network, an organization that has campaigned against the cap, claiming in 2023 that it “would limit Indigenous communities in a number of ways.” (DeSmog has reported on Cenovus’ previous support for the group). 

In an interview with DeSmog, Indigenous Resource Network executive director John Desjarlais said the 2023 contribution from Cenovus supported the group creating podcasts and digital video shoots in Fort McMurray, the Alberta city at the heart of the oil sands industry, aimed at championing Indigenous involvement in the industry.

“We did some projects out there and we sought funding for that and Cenovus was pretty eager to support us,” Desjarlais said. “That’s kind of the extent of the involvement. They partner with us, they support us, it’s not something we hide or anything like that, we have a good relationship.”

Cenovus contributed to other organizations that have argued against the emissions cap, including the Conference Board of Canada, which has produced reports warning of dire economic impacts from the policy. “I can confirm Cenovus is a subscriber of our economic and HR research insights,” a spokesperson wrote in an email to DeSmog.

The oil sands company contributed to the C.D. Howe Institute, one of whose directors wrote an op-ed last year addressed directly to federal Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault, claiming that the emissions cap is “unnecessary, expensive, and likely to do more harm than good.”

“Cenovus Energy is a member of the C.D. Howe Institute and participates in the Institute’s Energy Policy Council, which convenes industry leaders, policymakers, and academics,” a spokesperson wrote to DeSmog. “The Institute seeks support from diverse donors to ensure that no individual, organization, region or industry has or appears to have undue influence on its publications and activities.” 

Another recipient of Cenovus’ support is the industry advocacy group Resource Works, which has frequently argued against the emissions cap. It recently fought unsuccessfully to overturn a ban on gas stoves in new Vancouver homes by preparing sample comments for its supporters to submit to city council. It didn’t respond to DeSmog’s media request.

These groups play different roles in a network of Canadian groups fighting against climate action. But the Cenovus document reveals that they’re all received support behind the scenes by the same company “to advance arguments of the fossil fuel industry, Temper argued. 

“It’s a way [for Cenovus] to get the argument out there in the political realm without having to overtly make the argument themselves, because that would undermine their credibility,” she said.