Exxon, other oil majors’ spending millions on ‘green PR’ but give pittance to low-carbon activities – Int’l report

Sep 09, 2022 News

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Kaieteur News – A new by a London-based energy and climate finance think-tank, InfluenceMap revealed that five major oil companies including ExxonMobil have been spending tens of millions publicising and portraying themselves as being climate-friendly, but in reality only a small chunk of their investments goes into low-carbon development.

The report cited American oil giant, Exxon, British Oil Company BP, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Chevron and TotalEnergies. It said the companies spend US$750 million a year polishing their climate credentials.

The Guardian reported that a comprehensive study of public communications from the five oil and gas firms found that 60 percent of the publicity made at least one claim highlighting the companies’ positive climate actions – but on average, the five companies devoted only 12 percent of capital expenditure to low-carbon activities – and this included some gas projects.

InfluenceMap researchers looked at 3,421 public communications materials published by Exxon, BP, Chevron, Shell and TotalEnergies in 2021, including articles and blogposts on corporate websites, press releases, reports, speeches and company and CEO social media accounts. Notably, the researchers did not look at adverts as it was not possible for them to obtain a full data set of any company’s global advertising

The researchers found that more than half of all the publicity material made at least one green claim, with the most popular being centered on efforts to “transition the energy mix”. However, analysis of the capital expenditure of the five companies found that all were forecast to increase their oil and gas production, with the exception of BP, which was expected to have similar levels in 2026 as in 2021.

Exxon’s local affiliate, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) is the operator of Guyana’s richest oil block.

The oil company holds a 45 percent interest in the prolific Stabroek Block, meanwhile, Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd. holds a 30 percent interest and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CNOOC Limited, holds a 25 percent interest.

The Stabroek Block is estimated to hold nearly 11 billion of barrels of equivalent of oil and on July 29, 2022, weeks after announcing two more discoveries offshore Guyana – Exxon announced estimated second-quarter 2022 earnings of US$17.9 billion.

Speaking with The Guardian, Faye Holder, a programme manager at InfluenceMap said, “Essentially, we found that big oil is sp

ending millions of dollars on this green PR, and it is a really systematic campaign to portray themselves as pro-climate,” adding “But at the same time, they are still lobbying to lock in fossil fuels and investing in a really unsustainable energy future with high levels of oil and gas, and very low spend on low-carbon activities.”

Holder explained that none of the “About us” pages on the firms’ websites described them as oil and gas companies. “The best instance, in my mind, was BP – on their ‘Who we are’ page, they only mention the word ‘oil’ twice. And it’s at the bottom of the page, under a section called ‘Our history’, where they describe how they have always been a transitioning energy company, from coal to oil to gas to this lower-carbon future,” Holder added.

To this end, he said that it is clear that the oil companies want to dissociate themselves from oil and gas and attach themselves to climate friendly agenda.

Giving a breakdown of the ‘green PR’ made by the oil companies compared to what they actually invested in low-carbon activities, InfluenceMap revealed that ExxonMobil made green claims in 70 percent of its communications, while devoting a mere 8 percent of capital expenditure to low carbon

It was stated that Shell also made the ‘green claims’ in 70 percent of public communications stressing pro-environmental activities, while just 10 percent of capital expenditure was invested in low carbon, which included some gas projects. It was stated that

For TotalEnergies, 62 percent of communications made green claims, with 25 percent of capital investment going towards low carbon.

THE OIL COMPANIES RESPONSE

The Guardian reported that a spokesperson for ExxonMobil said, “ExxonMobil continues to mitigate emissions from its operations and achieved its 2025 emission-reduction plans four years earlier than planned. This progress supports the company’s more aggressive 2030 emission-reduction plans and its ambition to achieve net zero scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions from operated assets by 2050. ExxonMobil is investing more than $15bn between now and 2027 on lower-emission initiatives, and we anticipate a tripling of investment by 2025.”

While Shell contested the findings, saying InfluenceMap had failed to take into account low-carbon businesses included in its marketing division, including EV charging and low-carbon fuels, and a joint venture in Brazil that is a world-leading bioethanol producer. The company has previously said more than 35 per cent of capital expenditure in 2022 would go towards low-carbon energy, as well as “non-energy products”.

“We are already investing billions of dollars in lower-carbon energy,” a spokesperson said. “To help alter the mix of energy Shell sells, we need to grow these new businesses rapidly. That means letting our customers know through advertising or social media what lower-carbon solutions we offer now or are developing, so they can switch when the time is right for them. The world will still need oil and gas for many years to come. Investment in them will ensure we can supply the energy people will still have to rely on, while lower-carbon alternatives are scaled up.”

A spokesperson from TotalEnergies told the Guardian: “Our public announcements policy reflects the transformation of TotalEnergies in a multi-energy company. As an evidence of this, the InfluenceMap report releases a forecast that ranks TotalEnergies as the frontrunner among the super majors in terms of renewables assets-based capacities.”

However, Chevron and BP did not respond to requests for comment.

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