Greenwashing
Strategy
Mission
Agents
Tactics
Offsets
The concept of "offsets" allows many industries that involve great deals of extraction and pollution to present themselves as environmentally friendly. For example, many oil + gas companies now offer "carbon neutral" fossil fuels.[1]
Credits
IETA => Verra =>
CCUS
Carbon Capture, Utilization + Storage:
Fossil fuel companies have similarly relied on the potential of carbon capture technology to reach net-zero goals. “Carbon capture” describes a set of technologies that remove carbon dioxide from either an industrial waste stream or directly from the atmosphere. The carbon dioxide can then either be utilized for industrial processes or stored in underground deposits.37 The four fossil fuel companies in the Committee’s investigation have made investments in developing and deploying carbon capture and have lobbied in support of government aid to support the technology. 38 Fossil fuel companies publicly tout carbon capture technology as key to transitioning away from fossil fuels.39 However, internal documents obtained by the Committee suggest the companies view this technology as a social license to continue producing fossil fuels for decades to come. BP’s website highlights that “CCUS plays a vital role in the transition to a low-carbon energy system.” 40 However, an internal document prepared to brief BP leadership on Princeton’s Carbon Mitigation Initiative focuses on carbon capture as a way to “enable the full use of fossil fuels across the energy transition and beyond.”41 Similarly, in January 2018, BP’s Head of Carbon Capture, Use and Storage and BP’s Director of Climate Change and Sustainability Technology prepared an internal paper on CCUS for BP employees. The paper provided public messaging points on carbon capture, but the paper itself was “not for external distribution.” Under “Key Messages” the paper emphasizes, “Carbon capture use and storage (CCUS) is a critical tool for meeting the Paris Climate Agreement goals at lowest cost” and asserts,
“CCUS technologies are proven, reliable, and ready – but scale-up needs to be accelerated.” 42 However, the paper also points out how CCUS enables the continued use of fossil fuels. For example, it highlights the use of CCUS in “energy-intensive industries that rely on the use of fossil fuels” and notes, “Long-term growth of gas is partially enabled by CCUS on gas power and heat.” The paper lists among the “Challenges” for CCUS the “[s]ocietal concerns with CCUS extending the use of fossil fuels.” The paper also notes that captured carbon can be used “to enhance oil recovery”—meaning to make oil fields more productive—which undermines the emission reductions from sequestration. 43 Shell has also pointed to its CCS and CCUS technologies in discussing its net-zero aspirations, but documents obtained by the Committee show that in private discussions, Shell executives raised concerns about publicly sharing specifics of Shell’s use of CCS technology to reach net zero. In an October 2019 email exchange, Jan Sherman, Shell’s then-General Manager for U.S. Carbon Capture and Storage, asked colleagues for advice on what “not to say” to environmental groups at an upcoming event in Washington, D.C. Helen O’Connor, Shell’s Manager for U.S. Stakeholder Relations, suggested that Ms. Sherman should “be cagey about project specifics” and avoid “traversing far from the CCUS topic regarding Shell and climate change.” She further noted that one environmental group in attendance, the Natural Resource Defense Council, “are not friends” of Shell and is “likely closely aligned with those working hard to litigate against us.” Ms. O’Connor also reminded Ms. Sherman that Shell’s “Sky scenario” for reaching net-zero emissions—which relies in part on widespread implementation of CCS—is “not a Shell business plan, but a technically possible, although challenging scenario for how global society might meet the goals of the Paris agreement.” 44 Currently, Exxon only operates one carbon capture facility, in Schute Creek, Wyoming, and serves as a partner in a facility in Australia and one in Qatar.45 Over its lifetime, Schute Creek has only captured and stored 3% of its carbon dioxide underground, either venting or selling the rest to be injected underground into depleted oil reservoirs, thereby enhancing oil recovery and generating more emissions.46 The Australia project has repeatedly failed to meet its storage target by about 50%. 47 A recent report surveying 13 flagship carbon capture projects around the world, including the Wyoming and Australian facilities, found that ten either underperformed or failed.48 Exxon recently announced ten potential new facilities around the world. 49 Exxon spent $86 million in 2010 to expand its carbon capture facility in Wyoming and plans to spend another $400 million on a further expansion of the facility. 50 Exxon claimed $240 million in carbon capture tax credits over the last decade of the facility’s use. However, experts estimate that Exxon may only be capturing less than 1% of its total emissions through carbon capture technology.51 In a May 2018 email exchange, Exxon CEO Darren Woods and Exxon’s Vice President of Corporate Strategic Planning, Mr. Wojnar, discussed “emissions avoided” through carbon capture technology. Mr. Wojnar wrote to Mr. Woods that he was “[c]oming back on your question on GHG emissions avoided,” including through carbon capture technology, and provided “options for how to respond to a query” on this topic. Mr. Wojnar suggested that Mr. Woods say that “over the last decade, ExxonMobil has taken action to reduce GHG emissions by approximately 75 million tons.”52 In reality, nearly all the carbon dioxide Exxon has captured through CCS has been sold to other fossil fuel companies to inject into their depleted oil fields to help extract even more oil. As a result, the carbon captured by Exxon through CCS technology likely has not meaningfully reduced total carbon emissions.53 Exxon has heavily advertised its efforts to develop carbon capture technology. Three carbon capture television ads from 2016 through 2019 aired 9,058 times nationally, generated 4.1 billion impressions, and are estimated to have cost Exxon over $68 million to run. 54 Draft advertisements prepared by BBDO in 2018 targeted at a New Jersey audience described “carbon capture at mass scale” as one of “the technologies being developed right here in Jersey at ExxonMobil’s Research and Engineering facilities.”55 Private discussions between Exxon and BBDO acknowledge the limitations of Exxon’s CCS projects. In 2018, BBDO noted that after conversations with Exxon about draft CCSrelated advertisements, they would “replace any lines that imply the technology is live today, and more the solution more future focused (e.g. we’re building a plant to test this…).” 56
Biofuel
Algae
Exxon’s Algae Biofuel Technology Exxon’s climate advertisements have focused heavily on algae biofuel and CCS. 21 Exxon touts algae biofuel as a breakthrough technology and has a stated goal to produce algae biofuels equivalent to 10,000 barrels of oil per day by 2025—amounting to approximately 0.3% of the company’s current daily fossil fuel production.22
However, internal Exxon documents reveal tension between the company’s public aspirations and actual technological capabilities. In one email exchange in April 2016, Exxon public affairs employees discussed a planned television advertising campaign touting Exxon’s algae research. Exxon employees debated referring to “abundant algae” versus “finding the algae that will make abundant and cheap biofuels.” One Exxon public affairs manager expressed concern with using the phrase “abundant algae,” noting that “even though they are abundant, it will take a ton of them to make biofuels so that might create some angst with the research folks who know that.” 23 Between April 17, 2017, and July 12, 2017, Exxon ran a television advertising campaign called “Energy Farmer,” centered around Exxon’s research into algae biofuels. The advertisement garnered nearly 675 million impressions. 24 The ad featured an electric guitar rendition of the children’s song, “The Farmer in the Dell,” with shots of sprawling vats of green liquid, and scientists examining algae in tubes and under microscopes. A December 2016 mockup for the advertisement obtained by the Committee states: We move through an ExxonMobil algae facility, but everything we see feels more akin to farming than science. We see algae ponds that resemble fields, geometric patches of different kinds of algae that resemble Midwestern farmland from above, and a grow room that looks more like a greenhouse than a lab.25 Meanwhile, onscreen text reads, “Algae. A renewable source of energy. ExxonMobil is researching it. To revolutionize biofuels. For more energy. And fewer emissions. In the future.” 26 An Exxon scientist appears on screen wearing a t-shirt that reads, “I [heart symbol] Single-Celled Organisms,” standing against a background of bubbling, floating bags of green algae. She says to the camera, “I’m Dr. Kelsey McNeely, and someday, you may be calling me an energy farmer. Energy lives here.” 27 An earlier mockup of the ad from December 2016 had a slightly different a script, with Dr. McNeely saying, “I like to consider myself an energy farmer.” 28 The Committee has obtained internal discussions between Exxon representatives and employees of the advertising agency BBDO Worldwide before the “Energy Farmer” advertisement went live, suggesting Exxon was concerned that the advertisements as prepared may have implied the technology being promoted was currently viable. One November 2016 email exchange on several algae advertisements under consideration noted that Exxon representatives had asked BBDO to “replace any lines that imply the technology is live today,” and instead emphasize “the solution is more future focused (e.g. this could be a biofuel in the future.).” BBDO further noted, “[N]eed to add more science to underscore point that this is in the research phase.”29 In another exchange in November 2016, BBDO notes Exxon asked to revise the text of the Energy Farmer advertisement, emphasizing that Exxon “is researching” algae rather than “cultivating it,” and that algae biofuel is “for a potential future,” rather than “for a future.”30 The final advertisement that ran on television used, “in the future.”31 Although Exxon employees appear to have carefully crafted the language in this advertisement, the images in the advertisement showing test tubes and vast pools of algae clearly evoke scaled production of biofuels and give the impression of clean, abundant algae biofuel.32 This focus on advertising unproven technologies that may not scale for decades, if at all, suggests that these advertisements served to distract the public from Exxon’s continued fossil fuel business. Three Exxon advertisements focused on algae in 2017 through 2019, aired more than 10,000 times, garnered over 3.7 billion impressions and are estimated to have cost Exxon $68 million to air.33 In contrast, Exxon has spent a little over $300 million on algae research since 2009—a little more than four times its advertising budget, less than 3% of its annual research budget, and an even smaller fraction of its overall capital expenditures, which reached over $391 billion in that period, mostly on oil and gas development.34 Scientists have raised doubts about the practicality of algae biofuel, in particular the cost and the amount of land required for harvesting. At best, experts predict it will take decades to gather enough investment in algae to be economically viable, long past the time when electric vehicles are currently expected to dominate the transportation market.35 The Committee obtained a September 2018 draft Exxon presentation for investors by T.J Wojnar, Exxon’s Vice President of Corporate Strategic Planning, entitled “2018 Outlook for Energy: A View to 2040.” The presentation lists different biofuels research and development projects that Exxon was pursuing in the transportation fuels sector, including algae. Although optimistic in tone, notes accompanying the presentation acknowledged that research into biofuels was “still decades away from the scale we need,” which is consistent with other Exxon statements on the topic.36
Manure
For New York’s dairy operations, the calculations may be particularly flawed. Of the ten farms that have contracts to produce FGA or are seeking permits, every one had built a digester years ago, and had been generating electricity for use on-site. As these farms switch to producing pipeline gas, no additional methane is getting captured; it’s simply being repurposed.
“That’s a spurious greenhouse gas capture,” said Tyler Lobdell, a lawyer for Food and Water Watch who focuses on factory farming. “They are not causing any emission reduction on the ground.”
Indeed some experts have noted that when farms shift from using biogas on their farms to sending it to pipelines, it’s a net loss for the planet. In public comments opposing a permit for Bluebird Renewable Energy’s proposed dairy pipeline projects in Cayuga County, Josh Berman, a lawyer with the Sierra Club’s environmental law program, argued that the projects “would significantly increase pollution and greenhouse gas emissions associated with the two farms.”
Both farms had digesters to capture methane for electricity, and Berman said the pipeline project would be a less efficient, more polluting use of the farms’ manure biogas. “There are so many additional steps to go through to make it a saleable product to get it into the pipeline,” Berman told New York Focus. The gas must be refined to remove impurities and compressed before it can be injected into a pipeline, both energy-intensive processes. And in most scenarios –including the Cayuga County projects–the gas must be trucked to the pipeline, which creates a risk of leakage and even explosions in case of road accidents.
The transition to pipeline gas also means the digesters no longer provide their relatively low-carbon electric power to the farms themselves. Don Jensen’s contract with Brightmark requires him to sell all the methane his digester produces, so now when he flips on the lights, he is buying electricity from the local utility company, like most other consumers. “We can’t even run a generator. That was a condition.” Jensen said. The money he makes from selling the biomethane more than makes up for his new electric and heating costs, but that new energy consumption may not square with New York’s climate goals.[2]
Plastic Recycling
Sources
- ↑ "Big Energy Companies’ New Pitch: ‘Carbon-Neutral’ Oil and Gas" by Dieter Holger, Wall Street Journal 12-OCT-21 https://www.wsj.com/articles/big-energy-companies-new-pitch-carbon-neutral-oil-and-gas-11634032800
- ↑ https://www.nysfocus.com/2022/05/25/big-oil-wants-new-yorks-cow-manure/
- ↑ https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/plastics-material-specific-data
- ↑ https://www.npr.org/2020/09/11/897692090/how-big-oil-misled-the-public-into-believing-plastic-would-be-recycled