climate accountability


Exxon refinery in Baytown, Texas.

Fossil Fuel Giants Are Pumping Out Greenwashing—Their Tricks Won’t Work

, climate accountability campaign director

November 13, 2018 9:43 AM EDT

In recent months, we’ve seen fossil fuel giant ExxonMobil leave the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), pledge $1 million to support a carbon tax, announce measures to reduce methane emissions, and join the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI). Is the company finally getting serious about addressing climate change? Um, no. We found that these companies still appear to be trying to trick us with greenwashing. Here are six tricks by ExxonMobil and some of its key competitors that we’re countering with our public exposure and organizing. Read more >

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Photo: Brenda Ekwurzel

Yes, ExxonMobil and Chevron are Still Distorting Climate Science

, senior climate scientist

October 23, 2018 1:00 PM EDT

If you look at headlines from the last year, ExxonMobil, Chevron and other major fossil fuel companies have seemingly turned a new page on climate change. But, as I and my colleagues have analyzed, this “support” is a PR distraction when these companies are keeping up business-as-usual. Today UCS released a scorecard,which analyzed what eight major fossil fuel companies are saying they’re doing about climate change, and just how much these companies are doing to drastically lower their emissions. Read more >

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Experts Expose Hot Air in Fossil Fuel Companies’ Climate Risk Reporting

, climate accountability campaign director

October 2, 2018 3:15 PM EDT

Last week, I participated in the 2nd Conference on Fossil Fuel Supply and Climate Policy at the University of Oxford in England. It was an exciting opportunity to discuss policies and actions aimed at limiting the supply of coal, oil, and natural gas with academic researchers, civil society leaders, and other experts from across the globe. Along with my UCS colleague Peter Frumhoff, I organized a panel on “Well Below 2°C Reporting by Major Fossil Energy Companies: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.” Since the 2015 adoption of the Paris climate agreement, companies such as Chevron, ExxonMobil, and Royal Dutch Shell have begun to publish reports in response to mounting investor demands that they disclose their plans for a world in which global temperature increase is kept well below two degrees Celsius (2°C) above pre-industrial levels. Panelists looked at climate risk reporting by major investor-owned oil and gas companies from legal, shareholder, scientific, and advocacy perspectives.

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Photo: Alan Grinsberg/Flickr

Six Key Facts Ignored in Dismissal of California Climate Suits vs. Fossil Fuel Companies

, climate accountability campaign director

June 27, 2018 5:22 PM EDT

This week, U.S. District Judge William Alsup dismissed lawsuits by San Francisco and Oakland seeking to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for their contributions to climate change. Judge Alsup’s ruling dangerously rested on balancing climate harms with fossil energy benefits, deferred to legislative- and executive-branch solutions that major fossil fuel companies have spent millions opposing, seriously underplayed the role of ExxonMobil and others in spreading disinformation about climate science and policy, and punted on the question of who should pay for climate damages.

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Former ExxonMobil Engineer Says Oil and Gas Companies Can and Should Plan to Be Part of the Solution to Climate Change

, climate accountability campaign director

May 29, 2018 9:22 AM EDT

A conversation with William (Bill) Hafker, an environmental engineer who spent 36 years working for ExxonMobil. Bill believes that oil and gas companies should be increasingly active and transparent in identifying and committing to meaningful climate action, and should incorporate climate planning into their traditional business planning. Read more >

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