Exxon Mobil Chairman and CEO Darren Woods speaks during a session at CERAWeek by S&P Global on Monday at Hilton Americas-Houston in Houston.
Wall Sawan, CEO of Shell, speaks during in a leadership dialogue session at CERAWeek by S&P Global on Monday at Hilton Americas-Houston in Houston.
Daniel Yergin, vice chairman of S&P Global, left, and NextEra CEO John Ketchum discuss in a leadership dialogue session at CERAWeek by S&P Global on Monday at Hilton Americas-Houston in Houston.
Big Oil executives are falling back on what I call the Milli Vanilli defense, as they desperately try to justify their role in overheating the planet and slowing efforts to fight climate change.
“Gotta blame it on something. Blame it on the rain that was fallin',” the hit song from 1989 says. “Blame it on the stars that didn't shine that night. Whatever you do, don't put the blame on you. Blame it on the rain.”
The industry’s new communication strategy, repeated in various iterations at the CERAWeek by S&P Global confab in Houston, are as about authentic as Milli Vanilli’s vocals, which were lip-synced.
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The CEO of Saudi Aramco, owned by the Saudi Arabian government and the world’s largest oil company, declared that people in poorer countries want more oil and gas through 2045, regardless of what scientists say or how world leaders have promised to phase out fossil fuels.
“My proposal is this: We should abandon the fantasy of phasing out oil and gas and instead, invest in them adequately reflecting realistic demand assumptions,” Amin Nasser told the conference. “We should ramp up our efforts to reduce carbon emissions, improve energy efficiency and introduce lower carbon solutions.”
Patrick Pouyanné, CEO of French oil giant Total Energy, cited French farmers protesting higher fuel prices as an example of how politics will slow efforts to fight climate change.
“If you go too quick, too fast, you could backfire,” he said. “I think we must find a gradual pace to make the transition. I know the scientists say it is urgent, but unfortunately, society really is conscious of price.”
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The consistency of Big Oil’s messaging is no coincidence. The industry frequently rolls out a new propaganda strategy at CERAWeek.
Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods previewed the new and deceitful strategy in a podcast interview with Fortune magazine. He claimed the public and investors were to blame for the slow progress in developing clean energy, adding: “It’s time to get started on it.”
Exxon, the company that denied the climate crisis for decades and still spends millions lobbying lawmakers to block legislation to slow global warming, wants us to believe we are to blame and the companies that addicted the world to oil are innocent.
“We have opportunities to make fuels with lower carbon in it, but people aren’t willing to spend the money to do that,” Woods said. “The dirty secret nobody talks about is how much all this is going to cost and who’s willing to pay for it.”
The dirty little secret Woods will not talk about is that the past 12 months, the warmest on record, were 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial norms. If we begin phasing out fossil fuels immediately, that will be, at best, an average year.
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The other secret no oil company CEO will discuss is how much a 1.5-degree rise in average temperatures will cost the planet in more extreme weather disasters and in new infrastructure to protect against higher sea levels.
Big Oil refuses to take responsibility for slowing the response to climate change and wants to protect the trillions of dollars in capital it has already deployed. When Exxon shareholders tried to demand the company do more on climate issues, the board of directors sued them.
This public relations technique is known as deny, deflect and diffuse. The industry can no longer deny climate change, so it deflects responsibility onto the public. They also dilute accountability by claiming they are part of the solution.
Shell’s new chief executive, Wael Sawan, abandoned or watered down key climate targets last week. The company said it would meet investors’ expectations of high returns. Even after one of the company’s most profitable years, Shell says it can’t keep its climate promises.
The public can never trust Big Oil to tackle climate change. Global governments must impose science-based regulations to phase out carbon emissions because these companies are focused on profits, not the planet.
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The energy transition will be costly, and there will be winners and losers. But the discomfort of slashing emissions is nothing compared to living in a permanently warmer and irreversibly damaged world.
“Despite our star role in global prosperity, our industry is painted as villains,” Nasser lamented about the energy debate.
Big Oil undoubtedly made modern life possible, but its behavior threatens the future. If these CEOs want to be heroes, they should promise to phase out fossil fuels as scientists and world leaders have demanded, not give speeches that will go down in infamy.
Award-winning opinion writer Chris Tomlinson writes commentary about money, politics and life in Texas. Sign up for his “Tomlinson’s Take” newsletter at houstonhchronicle.com/tomlinsonnewsletter or expressnews.com/tomlinsonnewsletter.
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