US climate experts slammed four of the world’s top oil firms of lying about the potential dangers with their activity and attempting to prolong the transition to greener fuels on Tuesday.
The US Congress is looking into the involvement of American giants ExxonMobil and Chevron, as well as BP and Shell, in propagating climate change misinformation.
Academic Dr. Michael Mann testified before a House oversight committee that firms had known for more than four decades that their operations polluted the environment, but had engaged in a “campaign of denial and delay.”
“We are now paying the price for these delays in the form of extreme weather events,” said the professor.
He cited the so-called heat dome that engulfed millions of Americans and Canadians in June of last year, as well as the wildfires that ravage large swaths of California on a daily basis.
He also questioned the oil companies’ tactic of pledging to lessen their fossil fuels’ carbon intensity.
“That’s sort of like your doctor telling you that you need to cut fat from your diet,” he said.
“And so you switch to 40 per cent reduced fat potato chips, but you eat twice as many of them. That doesn’t help.”
Oil company executives were invited to speak, but they did not turn up. They did testify in October, telling Congress that in recent years, they have increased their investment in alternative energy.
Ms. Tracey Lewis, policy counsel for the environmental advocacy group Public Citizen, described the pledges as “climate disinformation and greenwashing.”
She expressed special concern over misinformation aimed at people of color and the poor, who are disproportionately disadvantaged by fossil fuel combustion.
Republicans supported the firms, instead focusing on President Joe Biden’s climate policies, which they linked to recent increases in energy prices.
“Good luck getting on an airplane powered by batteries,” said South Carolina congressman Ralph Norman. “Let’s see how that works.” Committee chairwoman Carolyn Maloney invited the oil giants to testify again before Congress in March.
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