Oil and gas majors and their affiliated trade associations have striven behind the scenes to negatively influence government regulation on carbon credits in the United States. This report builds on our first Oil Spill report, and highlights how the fossil fuel sector’s influence is exrercised both at the federal level, with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and at the state level, where some fossil fuel interests have spent $273 million dollars in lobbying California climate legislation over two decades between 2005 and 2026.
To sate their voracious appetite for greenwashing offsets, major fossil fuel companies have invested considerable resources and effort to lobby, both directly and indirectly, to weaken carbon market federal regulations in the United States and state regulations in California, concludes a new Carbon Market Watch investigation.
Despite belonging to the highly polluting fossil fuel sector, major oil and gas companies are not only among the largest buyers of carbon credits, they are also heavily invested in seeking to shape the voluntary carbon market. This report zooms in this outsized role. It focuses on how oil supermajors employ greenwashing strategies, including offsetting their emissions and using carbon credits to give the illusion of meaningful progress towards reaching their climate targets. Driven by a desire to safeguard the supply of cheap and low-quality carbon credits, some fossil fuel companies have also been engaging with policy and governance processes through both formal and informal channels.
In a democratic debate, should everyone get an equal say or should those with money be given a soapbox and loudhailer? The answer to this question is obvious, yet it appears to have eluded Politico Europe, one of the main players on the Brussels media stage.
Executive summary With fossil fuels being branded “carbon neutral” left and right, this Carbon Market Watch investigative report analyses 18 recent carbon neutrality claims in detail, uncovering that they amount to brazen greenwashing. These “carbon neutral” fossil fuel claims primarily concern liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes, with two relating to oil and condensate shipments. The …
Read more “Net-zero pipe dreams: Why fossil fuels cannot be carbon neutral”
While major banks are making grand climate pledges, investments in fossil fuels continue to increase. Internal carbon prices coupled with the end of fossil fuel subsidies have the potential to direct investments into a clean transition to a climate-safe future.
Dear Vice President Timmermans, Commissioner Valean, Commissioner Simson, Commissioner Breton We, the signatories, write to express our support for the goals of the European Green Deal for shipping and aviation, notably the objectives to deploy sustainable alternative fuels/energy via a dedicated Fuel EU Maritime and ReFuelEU Aviation initiatives. Maritime and aviation transport are important parts …
Read more “Joint letter to the European Commission on sustainable fuels”
