After a year-long investigation into climate deception by the fossil fuel sector, the Democratic-led House Oversight Committee concluded that Big Oil firms have been engaging in a “long-running greenwashing effort” while making “record profits at the expense of American consumers.
The committee discovered that the fossil fuel sector is “posing climate issues while avoiding meaningful obligations” to lower greenhouse gas emissions. Lawmakers claimed that despite internal industry records showing how businesses have avoided making serious commitments, it has attempted to position itself as a part of the climate solution.
The industry is moving on with plans to continue pumping more filthy fuels for decades to come, according to the records released today, said Carolyn Maloney, chair of the House Oversight Committee, in a statement.
For instance, according to legislators, BP has declared it aims to “be a net zero corporation by 2050 or sooner,” but the committee discovered internal BP documents that demonstrate the company’s most recent intentions do not line up with its public statements.
BP’s vice president of engineering stated that the company had “no obligation to minimize GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions” and that the company should only “minimize GHG emissions where it makes commercial sense,” as required by code or if it fits into a regional strategy, in a July 2017 email between several of the company’s high-level officials regarding whether to invest in reducing emissions from one of its gas projects off the coast of Trinidad and Tobago.
The committee claimed that documents found also demonstrated how the fossil fuel industry promoted natural gas as a so-called “bridge fuel” for switching to cleaner energy sources, all the while increasing its reliance on fossil fuels over the long term and offering no specific strategy for making the full switch to clean energy.
While Chevron observes “traditional energy business competitors retreating” from oil and gas, “Chevron’s strategy” is to “continue to invest” in fossil fuels to benefit from industry consolidation, according to a strategy slide presented by CEO Mike Wirth to the Chevron Board of Directors and obtained by the committee.
