Oil Companies Spending Millions To Portray "Climate Friendly Image"

The five firms' 2021 public communications on average had at least one "green" assertion, per InfluenceMap, a UK-based climate research group. Some of these assertions relate to converting to clean energy or the company's support for reducing emissions. Less than 25% of communication materials, according to the survey, made a direct reference to oil and gas. The report claims that these companies spend close to $750 million annually on their climate marketing. It should be viewed as a conservative estimate of the total resources allocated to PR and marketing related to climate change, the authors add, because it does not include the use of any outside businesses for PR, marketing, or advertising. In the interview with CNN, program manager for InfluenceMap Faye Holder said that communications spending is a part of a systematic push for these companies  to present themselves as "pro-climate to the public." However, the analysis stated that none of the supermajors' anticipated oil production appears to be in compliance with the International Energy Agency's Net Zero Emissions by 2050. Several companies want to increase oil and gas output between 2021 and 2026. (as of Q4 2021). According to InfluenceMap, none of the firms have coordinated their efforts to implement climate policy with the goals of the Paris Agreement, and they all actively oppose the Paris Agreement's climate policy goals through their vast global networks of business groups. Before coming to their conclusions, the authors of the research looked at 3,421 pieces of content from public communication from 2021, including marketing, public relations, and policy engagement initiatives. They also looked at corporate labour statistics to determine the financial impact of all that communication.