The Elephant

The climate change and environmental emergency: a comprehensive resource for journalists, politicians, policy makers, activists and citizens

Source: DeSmog


Visit: desmog.com


Articles from this source (78)

BBC Accused of Doing PR for Major Polluters

  2024-08-22 by in DeSmog

The BBC has produced dozens of films and articles for oil and gas companies, agricultural giants, fossil fuel states, and high-emission transport firms in recent years, DeSmog can reveal.  Experts say the BBC has been “greenwashing” the image of companies and countries contributing to global emissions by trumpeting their dubious climate credentials and promoting their […]


Project 2025: Tory Candidates Have Ties to Group Drafting ‘Dangerous’ Trump Agenda

  2024-08-14 by in DeSmog

Robert Jenrick, Priti Patel, and several other senior Conservative figures have close connections to a U.S. think tank that has authored a radical right-wing, anti-climate agenda for a future Donald Trump administration.  The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 is considered so extreme that Trump has tried to distance himself from the manifesto, calling it “ridiculous and […]

  Tagged under: Project 2025


Meta and Koch Industries to Sponsor Event Featuring Climate Denier Barry Cooper 

  2024-08-12 by in DeSmog

Chris Rufo, the conservative activist who created a moral panic around ‘critical race theory,’ is headlining.

  Tagged under: Activism


Mapped: The Tory Network of Climate Denial and Fossil Fuel Funding

  2024-06-13 by in DeSmog

Speaking outside Downing Street on 23 May, announcing a general election for 4 July, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak took a swipe at what he dubbed “environmental dogma”. It was a sign of how much has changed since 2021, when the UK hosted the flagship COP26 UN climate summit with a promise “irrefutably to turn the […]


No Environmental Review Required for Canada’s Largest Carbon Capture Proposal

  2024-06-06 by in DeSmog

Why is Pathways Alliance exempt from environmental assessment? The Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation would like to know.


Oil Funded Think Tank Gathers Climate Deniers Ahead of Crucial EU Elections

  2024-05-29 by in DeSmog

A fossil fuel funded think tank with close ties to the Hungarian government hosted a meeting of climate science critics in Brussels last Thursday (23 May), to challenge the EU “consensus” on the environment. Speakers from a range of anti-regulation groups shared their ideas two weeks before citizens across the bloc prepare to vote in […]


John Constable

  2024-05-21 (or before) in DeSmog

Photo: Screengrab via Parliament TV John Constable Credentials Background John Constable is the Energy Editor of the Global Warming Policy Forum, campaign arm of the climate science denial group the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF). Constable was appointed to the position five months before joining the GWPF’s Academic Advisory Council.1 “Who we are,” Global Warming […]


Despite Advertising Carbon Capture, ExxonMobil Saw Marginal Role for It in Fighting Climate Change 

  2024-05-21 by in DeSmog

Despite advertising carbon capture, ExxonMobil saw a marginal role for It in fighting climate change. Internal documents unearthed by a U.S. Senate panel show the oil giant modeled up to 500 CCS sites operating globally by 2050, far fewer than rival Shell.

  Tagged under: Exxon


Ofcom Refuses to Investigate GB News Over Climate Conspiracy Theories

  2024-05-07 by in DeSmog

The broadcasting regulator Ofcom will not be opening an investigation into GB News after one of its guests spread misinformation about climate action, DeSmog can reveal. Appearing on the Neil Oliver Show on 14 April, journalist Jasmine Birtles made a series of outlandish claims about climate action leading to mass deaths. She claimed a “depopulation […]

  Tagged under: Disinformation and Misinformation


Liz Truss Book Calls for Climate Laws to be Abolished and Boasts of Effort to Cancel UK COP Summit

  2024-04-18 by in DeSmog

The new book by former Prime Minister Liz Truss urges the UK, U.S. and EU to drop their landmark climate change laws, spreads falsehoods about green policies, and fondly recalls an attempt to cancel a major climate conference. Truss, who is the Conservative MP for South West Norfolk, resigned as prime minister in October 2022 […]


‘Hard-Right’ NatCon Event Was Organised by Oil Funded Group

  2024-04-16 by in DeSmog

A gathering of “Europe’s hard-right elite” held in Brussels today was organised by a fossil fuel funded think tank, DeSmog can reveal.  The National Conservatism (NatCon) conference was mired in controversy after the mayor of Brussels ordered police to shut down the event, leading to a standoff with its organisers.  The conference was due to […]


CO2 Coalition

  2024-04-13 (or before) in DeSmog

CO2 Coalition Background The CO2 Coalition was established in 2015 from the remains of the now-defunct George C. Marshall Institute (GMI) and registered as a 501(c)(3) organization for the purpose of “educating thought leaders, policy makers, and the public about the important contribution made by carbon dioxide and fossil fuels to our lives and the economy.”1“About,” Co2 Coalition. Archived September […]


Martin Durkin

  2024-03-22 (or before) in DeSmog

Martin Richard Durkin Credentials Background Martin Richard Durkin is the director of the climate change denial films The Great Global Warming Swindle (2007)2Geoffrey Lean. “Climate change: An inconvenient truth… for C4,” The Independent, March 11, […]


A Green New Shine for a Tired Playbook

  2024-03-21 by in DeSmog

"Climate the Movie" pivots from smoothly introducing doubt about climate science to bluntly concocting a grand, conspiratorial fallacy to explain why establishment elites have created this “climate scare.”


Top Fossil Fuel Ad Ban Critic Runs Group That Got $450K from Oil Company

  2024-03-11 by in DeSmog

The Indian Resource Council has received large contributions from Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., disclosures reviewed by DeSmog reveal.

  Tagged under: Lobbying | Oil Industry | Canada | Fossil Fuels


Institute of Economic Affairs

  2024-03-11 (or before) in DeSmog

Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) Background The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) is a London-based free-market thinktank and educational charity founded in 1955 by the late Sir Antony Fisher and Lord Harris with the mission “to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving […]

  Tagged under: Climate Change Denial and Disinformation | Fish | Disinformation and Misinformation


UK Government Holds its Nerve on Heat Pumps as Clean Heat Policy Confirmed

  2024-03-07 by in DeSmog

A cornerstone of the UK’s plans to slash the use of gas in home heating has survived a bitter backlash from the gas boiler sector.  Speaking in the House of Lords yesterday, energy efficiency minister Martin Callanan brought an end to months of speculation when he announced that a plan to ramp up heat pump […]

  Tagged under: UK | Heat Pumps


Havas CEO Yannick Bolloré Staked His Brand on Caring About the Climate. So Why Is His Company Working for Shell?

  2024-01-24 by in DeSmog

The Bolloré family’s business empire — which includes Havas, one of the world’s biggest ad agencies — has longtime ties to the fossil fuel industry.

  Tagged under: Shell


North Sea Bill’s Carbon Emissions Test is a ‘Smokescreen’ And ‘Makes No Sense’ — Experts

  2024-01-08 by in DeSmog

A climate test in the new North Sea oil and gas bill is “misleading” and greatly overplays the UK’s climate leadership, scientists and campaigners have warned.  MPs are today (Monday) set to debate the second reading of the controversial Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill, which would allow oil and gas companies to bid for North Sea […]


Fossil Fuel Friendly Daily Mail Firm Handed £500k Government Contract to Run UK COP28 Events

  2023-11-29 by in DeSmog

The UK’s events at this year’s COP28 summit will be hosted by a Daily Mail events firm that specialises in organising exhibitions for the oil and gas industry, DeSmog can reveal.  Government records show that dmg events, which is owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT), will be paid £545,000 for “commissioning and […]

  Tagged under: COP28


Revealed: Scale of The Telegraph's Climate Change ‘Propaganda’

  2023-11-23 by in DeSmog

Telegraph columnists routinely questioned climate science and criticised green reforms as a major backlash against net zero policies raged in the UK, DeSmog can reveal. A new analysis by this website reviewed over 2,000 Telegraph opinion pieces and editorials published online over a six month period, ending in 16 October. Of the 171 opinion pieces […]

  Tagged under: Net Zero


Carbon Capture and Storage - 'False solution' or vital tool to curb emissions?

  2023-11-11 (or before) in DeSmog

For decades, the fossil fuel industry has pointed to a technology known as carbon capture and storage, or CCS, as a way to tackle the planet-heating emissions caused by burning coal, oil and natural gas.  First developed by West Texas oilmen in the early 1970s, the approach works by capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from industrial […]

  Tagged under: Carbon Capture and Storage


Climate Science Denial Rife at Launch of Jordan Peterson’s ARC Project

  2023-11-03 by in DeSmog

Canadian climate science denier Jordan Peterson’s new right-wing project launched this week with claims that carbon emissions have “declined” and that the climate crisis is a “secular religion”.  The three-day Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) conference in London featured speeches from UK Cabinet ministers Michael Gove and Kemi Badenoch, and culminated with a high-profile event […]

  Tagged under: Climate Change Denial and Disinformation | Disinformation and Misinformation


Frontline Communities Launch Hunger Strike to Protest Plastics Giant Formosa

  2023-10-30 by in DeSmog

Communities around the world impacted by the plastics giant Formosa are launching a global hunger strike on October 31.  Fishers, organizers, and concerned citizens in Texas, Vietnam and Louisiana — areas that are home to existing or proposed Formosa plants — have supported each other's efforts to mobilize against the Taiwan-based firm, forming the organization International Monitor Formosa Alliance (IMFA). Now the alliance is launching a hunger strike to demand that the victims of a 2016 environmental disaster in central Vietnam caused by Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corporation, a subsidiary of the Formosa Plastics G...

  Tagged under: Fish | Louisiana | Texas | Activism


GB News Owner’s Hedge Fund Has $2.2 Billion Fossil Fuel Investments

  2023-10-30 by in DeSmog

One of the owners of GB News runs a hedge fund that has a major financial stake in more than 100 oil and gas firms, DeSmog can reveal.  This news comes after former prime minister Boris Johnson was announced as a new presenter on the television broadcaster on Friday. An investigation by DeSmog in May […]


Tory MPs Tout Carbon Capture at Chevron-Sponsored Event

  2023-10-04 by in DeSmog

MANCHESTER – Conservative MPs gave resounding backing to the fossil fuel industry this week at a conference event paid for by U.S. oil giant Chevron.  The panel “Can fossil fuel companies play a role in the energy transition?” was hosted on Tuesday in Manchester by Conservative think tank Bright Blue and Chevron. Chevron is headquartered […]

  Tagged under: Carbon Capture and Storage | UK Politics | Chevron


'Embarrassingly Wrong' Tufton Street Net Zero Report Gets Widespread Coverage

  2023-09-28 by in DeSmog

A report from the Tufton Street group Civitas on the supposed cost of net zero was featured in several major newspapers today despite serious data errors.  Authored by management consultant Ewen Stewart, the report claimed that achieving net zero emissions will cost the UK £4.5 trillion, or £6,000 per household per year, by 2050. The […]

  Tagged under: Net Zero


Hydrogen Lobby Sets Sights On Labour Party

  2023-09-26 by in DeSmog

Hydrogen lobbyists are targeting the Labour Party after betting on the opposition winning next year’s general election, DeSmog can reveal. Energy policy will be a major focus at the October conferences of both major parties, which fall weeks after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak dramatically announced plans to water down the UK’s green targets. Emails seen […]

  Tagged under: Hydrogen | Rishi Sunak


American PR Firm Edelman Enabled Oil Baron Al Jaber’s Ascension to Lead COP28 Climate Conference

  2023-09-13 by in DeSmog

With three months to go until the COP28 United Nations climate talks begin in Dubai, critics have stepped up their condemnation of the decision to put Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, the head of Abu Dhabi’s state oil company ADNOC, in charge of the conference. What few may realize, however, is that Al Jaber’s ascent to the highest levels of climate diplomacy began 16 years ago, and Edelman, the largest public relations firm in the world, played a crucial role.

  Tagged under: COP28


Meet the Shadowy Network Vilifying Climate Protestors

  2023-09-12 by in DeSmog

By Amy Westervelt, Drilled, and Geoff Dembicki, DeSmog, with additional reporting by Julianna Merullo and Lyndal Rowlands Earlier this year, news footage began making the rounds on social media of young activists from the German climate organization Letzte Generation (Last Generation) being assaulted by their fellow citizens as they obstructed streets in an effort to […]

  Tagged under: Activism


Climate Science Denial Looms Large in GB News Linked ‘ARC’ Venture

  2023-09-05 by in DeSmog

“The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice”. This Martin Luther King quote was used by Conservative peer Baroness Stroud to introduce the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC), which launched in March.  Set up by the owners of GB News and involving “senior leaders from politics, media, culture, business, and […]

  Tagged under: Climate Change | Climate Change Denial and Disinformation | Disinformation and Misinformation | Climate Justice


MPs Gifted £4,200 Tennis Tickets by Oil Giant BP

  2023-08-11 by in DeSmog

BP donated tennis tickets worth a total of more than £4,200 to a government minister and two MPs, parliamentary records reveal.  The oil and gas supermajor, which recorded bumper profits of £22 billion last year, gifted Wimbledon tickets to Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) Westminster leader Stephen Flynn, and Minister for Tech and the Digital Economy […]

  Tagged under: BP


Revealed: Media Blitz Against Heat Pumps Funded by Gas Lobby Group

  2023-07-20 by in DeSmog

An energy trade association that represents and promotes gas boilers and manufacturers is behind a barrage of negative press attacking heat pumps, DeSmog has learned. Over the past two years, the Energy and Utilities Association (EUA) has paid a public affairs firm to generate hundreds of articles and interviews to lobby the UK government on […]


Matt 'King Coal' Ridley

  2023-07-02 (or before) in DeSmog

Matt Ridley is a powerhouse of climate science denial in Britain. The self-styled ‘Rational Optimist’ is an advisor to Lord Nigel Lawson’s secretly funded charity, the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF), and acts as a one-man think tank to his brother-in-law, the sacked environment secretary Owen Paterson. Ridley writes frequently in the Wall Street Journal and The […]


Oregon County Sues Fossil Fuel Entities and Enablers for Contributing to Deadly 2021 Heatwave

  2023-06-22 by in DeSmog

Major fossil fuel entities and trade associations including Koch Industries, the American Petroleum Institute, and the Western States Petroleum Association, as well as consulting behemoth McKinsey & Company, were slapped with the latest climate liability lawsuit today with the filing of a complaint in the Oregon Circuit Court in Multnomah County, Oregon. The northwestern Oregon […]

  Tagged under: Oregon | Litigation


Tory MP Andrea Jenkyns Joins Board of Climate Science Denial Group

  2023-05-31 by in DeSmog

Conservative MP Andrea Jenkyns has become a director of Net Zero Watch (NZW), a pressure group which denies climate science and campaigns for more fossil fuel extraction.  She is the latest high profile figure to ally with NZW’s parent organisation, the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF), which is the UK’s principal climate science denial group […]

  Tagged under: Net Zero


Revealed: 1 in 3 GB News Hosts Spread Climate Denial On Air in 2022

  2023-05-26 by in DeSmog

A majority of GB News hosts attacked climate action on the channel in 2022, while one in three spread climate science denial, a DeSmog analysis can reveal.  Opponents of green policies have seized on the energy crisis sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to denounce the UK’s net zero target and push for new, environmentally-damaging […]

  Tagged under: Net Zero | Russia


Hoboken Lodges First State-Level Racketeering Charge in Big Oil Climate Lawsuit

  2023-05-25 by in DeSmog

Suing under an organized crime statute, the New Jersey city says major oil and gas companies and their chief lobbying group have “conspired to deceive the world for decades.”

  Tagged under: Shell | Exxon | BP


Willie Soon

  2023-05-09 (or before) in DeSmog

Willie Wei-Hock Soon Credentials Ph.D., Aerospace Engineering, University of Southern California (1991). [1] M.Sc. University of Southern California (1987). [1] B.Sc. University of Southern California (1985). [1] Background Willie Wei-Hock Soon is an aerospace engineer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Since 1992, Dr. Soon has been an astronomer at the Mount Wilson Observatory. Soon is also a receiving […]

  Tagged under: Climate Change | Climate Change Denial and Disinformation | Disinformation and Misinformation | California


McDonald’s Leads Lobbying Offensive Against Laws to Reduce Packaging Waste in Europe

  2023-05-09 by in DeSmog

McDonald’s is at the forefront of a campaign against new laws to reduce packaging waste in the EU, in what has been described by some insiders as the largest-scale lobbying effort they have ever witnessed in the European Parliament.  The fast food chain, alongside a number packaging producers and trade associations, wrote to European policymakers […]


The Former Extinction Rebellion Campaigners Rallying A Climate Majority

  2023-05-04 by in DeSmog

Governments show time and again they won’t deliver adequate climate solutions of their own accord. If the world is ever going to get serious on climate, it will be because a mass movement of citizen action insists on it.  Except, no such mobilisation of citizens yet exists across the global north. Accordingly, nothing like sufficient […]

  Tagged under: Extinction Rebellion


Telegraph Columnist Allison Pearson Becomes Director of Climate Science Denial Group

  2023-05-02 by in DeSmog

The Daily Telegraph’s chief interviewer and columnist Allison Pearson has joined the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF), one of the UK’s principal climate science denial groups.  This appointment adds to the influence of the GWPF in the press and potentially the amount of sway that it holds over the Conservative Party.  Pearson, who has written […]


'Bombshell' 1989 Shell Memo Features in New Court Filing Alleging Climate Deception

  2023-04-13 by in DeSmog

In October 1989, Shell researchers wrote a confidential report warning that climate-fuelled migration could swamp borders in the United States, Soviet Union, Europe, and Australia. “Conflict would abound,” the document said. “Civilisation could prove a fragile thing.”  Now, that memo — first reported by DeSmog and Dutch investigative journalism platform Follow The Money — features […]

  Tagged under: Shell


Lost Decade: How Shell Downplayed Early Warnings Over Climate Change

  2023-04-01 by in DeSmog

Narrated in the upper-crust accent favoured by British documentary-makers of the era, Shell’s 1981 film Time for Energy assesses the scope for solar, wind, nuclear, and other sources of power to end the world’s dependence on finite reserves of oil. By the closing credits, the viewer is left in little doubt that there is only […]

  Tagged under: Nuclear Power | Climate Change | Shell | Energy


Pesticide Giant Criticised for ‘Greenwashing’ Partnership with French Influencer

  2023-03-22 by in DeSmog

Bayer, the world’s second largest crop chemicals company, sponsored a French influencer to create and share pro-pesticides content with over 300,000 followers on her Instagram account, an investigation has revealed. Jenny Letellier – one of France’s biggest YouTubers with nearly 4 million subscribers – has come under fire for the sponsored content, which was broadcasted […]

  Tagged under: France


Revealed: The Science Denial Network Behind Oxford’s ‘Climate Lockdown’ Backlash

  2023-02-16 by in DeSmog

The “grassroots” backlash to a traffic reduction scheme in Oxfordshire is being boosted by an international network of established climate and Covid science deniers and amplified by right-wing media, DeSmog can report.  The group ‘Not Our Future’ made headlines last month by putting leaflets through Oxfordshire residents’ letterboxes calling them “guinea pigs” in the UK’s […]


Growing Body of Research Suggests Offshore Oil’s Methane Pollution Is Underestimated

  2023-02-07 by in DeSmog

Previous efforts to regulate offshore methane emissions stalled, despite role in helicopter crashes.

  Tagged under: Methane


Shell Canada’s Latest President Spent Years on Board of Climate Denier Group

  2023-01-18 by in DeSmog

More evidence the company’s net-zero plan is ‘total greenwashing,’ says one disinformation expert.

  Tagged under: Shell | Disinformation and Misinformation | Net Zero


Steve Milloy

  2022-11-12 (or before) by in DeSmog

Steven J. Milloy Photo of Steve Milloy by Zach Roberts (c) 2017. Credentials Juris Doctorate, University of Baltimore. Master of Laws (Securities regulation), Georgetown University Law Center. Master of Health Sciences (Biostatistics), Johns Hopkins University School of […]

  Tagged under: Climate Change Denial and Disinformation | Disinformation and Misinformation


Old School Climate Science Denial Lingers on Outskirts of Tory Conference

  2022-10-04 by in DeSmog

BIRMINGHAM, UK – “There is no greenhouse effect.” That was the stark title of the leaflets piled up outside the Birmingham & Midland Institute’s Lyttelton Theatre, where old school climate science denial was on open display on the outskirts of the Conservative party’s annual conference.  The party made Britain the first G7 country to adopt […]

  Tagged under: Greenhouse Gases


Analysis: New UK Prime Minister Liz Truss’s Links to Climate Science Denial

  2022-09-05 by in DeSmog

Liz Truss was announced as the new leader of the Conservative Party today after riding to power with the support of libertarian groups opposed to climate action.  A vocal advocate of free-market economics, during her campaign Truss called solar farms on agricultural land “depressing” and on Sunday claimed “gas is a very important transition fuel” […]

  Tagged under: Economics


When Extreme Weather Reigns, Disinformation Pours

  2022-07-29 by in DeSmog

Editor’s Note: This is part of a regular column, Gaslit, which navigates society’s dysfunctional relationship with fossil fuel disinformation. Have a tip or idea? Get in touch. Recent extreme weather across the globe is showing us how rapidly the climate is changing in an increasingly warming world. Heatwaves are scorching Europe, the United States, North Africa, Siberia, […]

  Tagged under: Extreme Weather | Wildfires | Heatwaves | Drought | Africa | Disinformation and Misinformation


California Assemblyman Kills Fossil Fuel Divestment Bill

  2022-06-28 by in DeSmog

The California legislature was close to passing a bill that would require the state’s two massive pension funds to divest from fossil fuels, but on June 21 the legislation was killed by one Democratic assemblyman who has accepted tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the energy industry. Senate Bill 1173 would have […]

  Tagged under: Fossil Fuels | Legislation | US Politics | California


Italian Activists’ Homes Searched by Police Following Gazprom Protests

  2022-05-27 by in DeSmog

The homes of three Italian climate activists were searched by the Italian police last week over their alleged involvement in March in a protest against fossil gas in Milan, Italy. The search warrant, shared with DeSmog by one of the activists, alleges that the activists spray painted and vandalized the side of a building, headquarters […]

  Tagged under: Activism


Oil and Gas Industry Seized on War in Ukraine to Water Down Climate Policy, Report Shows

  2022-05-25 by in DeSmog

While Russia dropped missiles on Kyiv and laid siege to the port of Mariupol in late February, the oil and gas industry took advantage of the war in Ukraine to spread misinformation about the causes of the energy crisis in order to apply political pressure and pursue a longstanding wish list of policy changes, according […]

  Tagged under: Climate Change | Disinformation and Misinformation | Russia


Ross Clark

  2022-05-16 (or before) by in DeSmog

Ross Clark Credentials Background Ross Clark is a British journalist who has written for the Spectator, the Times, the Daily Mail, the Daily Express, and the Sun. [2] Clark regularly questions climate science in columns for the Spectator, arguing, for instance, that while “climatic observations” should be trusted, predictions should be taken with “a pinch of salt” because “the only […]

  Tagged under: Predictions


GB News Appoints Chairman Who Spent Years Promoting Climate Denial

  2022-05-12 by in DeSmog

The new chairman of GB News has a history of sharing articles that dismiss the threat of climate change, sharpening concerns about the TV channel’s role as a platform for opponents of climate action.   Between 2013 and 2017, United Arab Emirates-based investment manager Alan McCormick tweeted numerous articles by climate science deniers, including one calling […]

  Tagged under: Climate Change


Revealed: How the Aides of 'Anti-Net Zero' MP Craig Mackinlay are Linked to a Leading Climate Denial Group

  2022-02-16 by in DeSmog

The Tory MP leading a backbench campaign against the government’s net zero policies is currently employing two aides linked to the UK’s most high-profile climate science denial group, DeSmog can reveal. Craig Mackinlay, chair of the Net Zero Scrutiny Group (NZSG), recently hired Harry Wilkinson, head of policy at the anonymously funded Global Warming Policy […]

  Tagged under: Net Zero


An FTI Consulting Presentation Pulls Back the Veil on Fossil Fuel PR

  2022-02-07 by in DeSmog

“We understand how the oil and gas sector works — we’ve worked in it, studied it, defended it and impacted the policy that regulates it,” a 2015 presentation delivered to the Tennessee Oil and Gas Association begins. “We have been instrumental players in the industry’s highest profile business issues, regulatory hearings, legal disputes and arbitration.” […]

  Tagged under: Fossil Fuels


Mapped: The Network of Powerful Agribusiness Groups Lobbying to Water Down the EU’s Sustainable Farming Targets

  2021-12-09 by in DeSmog

In February 2021, German agribusiness giant BASF hosted a virtual wine tasting, a seemingly cozy affair swirling glasses of Portugal’s finest in front of a webcam debating the future of EU agricultural policies. Invited to the event was a small group of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs).  The MEPs invited were spoiled for choice, […]

  Tagged under: Farming | European Union


The PR Industry Has Been a ‘Major’ But ‘Overlooked’ Influence in Climate Politics for Decades, Says Study

  2021-11-30 by in DeSmog

From coining “clean coal” to “carbon footprint,” public relations firms have been instrumental in shaping the public discourse around climate and energy policy, and as a new study underlines, their powerful efforts have flown under the radar for too long. PR firms have played a key role in obstructing action on climate change over the […]

  Tagged under: Coal | Climate Change


Climate Deniers Are Using These Four Major Scare Tactics to Stop Climate Action

  2021-11-16 by in DeSmog

When fossil fuel companies found out about the link between their product and climate change decades ago, they did everything they could to hide it. They lied, manipulated, and deceived.  Today, denying the reality of climate change isn’t as easy, and it is certainly more controversial. But that doesn’t mean climate deniers — fossil fuel […]

  Tagged under: Climate Change


Former COP26 President Brings Shell, BP, Equinor Reps Into Climate Conference

  2021-11-05 by in DeSmog

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND — The former president of the COP26 climate talks has brought a delegation including four oil companies and tobacco giant Philip Morris to the summit currently taking place in Glasgow, Scotland. Former UK energy and climate minister Claire O’Neill’s World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) is running a series of events at […]

  Tagged under: BP | Shell | COP26


Just Two Countries Mention Need to Cut Fossil Fuel Production at COP26 ‘Greenwashing’ Stands

  2021-11-04 by in DeSmog

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND – Only two of the 35 stalls lauding countries’ green credentials at the COP26 UN climate summit mention the need to cut fossil fuel production — the chief cause of the carbon emissions driving climate change.  The summit’s official “blue zone” includes large corporate-style pavilions run by some of the world’s leading producers […]

  Tagged under: COP26 | Climate Change


In Their Own Words: The Dirty Dozen Documents of Big Oil’s Secret Climate Knowledge

  2021-10-29 by in DeSmog

“Did we aggressively fight against some of the science? Yes,” said ExxonMobil lobbyist Keith McCoy. “Did we join some of these ‘shadow groups’ to work against some of the early efforts? Yes, that’s true. But there’s nothing illegal about that.” These are the words McCoy was caught saying on a secretly recorded video released by […]

  Tagged under: Exxon


New Climate Denial Group Run by Celebrity PR Exec Behind ‘Net Zero Referendum’ Poll

  2021-10-28 by in DeSmog

A poll showing public support for a referendum on the UK’s net zero goal covered on the front page of yesterday’s Telegraph was paid for by a newly-launched climate science denial group run by a leading figure in actor Laurence Fox’s political party. The survey, conducted by YouGov, was commissioned by “CAR26”, a campaign group […]

  Tagged under: Net Zero


Fossil Fuel Plant Run by William Koch at Heart of EPA Investigation into Racism in Texas’s Environmental Oversight

  2021-10-21 by in DeSmog

There are over 2,600 people living within three miles of Oxbow Corporation’s industrial plant in Port Arthur, Texas, a community that’s almost entirely people of color. And for 85 years, the Oxbow Calcining’s 112-acre plant has been processing oil and gas products into “petroleum coke,” which is commonly used to make steel and aluminum — […]

  Tagged under: Texas


Over 650 People Arrested in D.C. During Week of Indigenous-led Climate Action Calling on Biden to be the Climate Leader he Promised to be

  2021-10-18 by in DeSmog

As environmental advocates from across the United States converged in Washington, D.C. last week to take part in the five day “People vs. Fossil Fuels” action, President Biden’s infrastructure package remained stalled, in part, by West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin’s push to cut its largest climate measure. The series of fossil fuel protests were organized by a coalition of over […]

  Tagged under: Joe Biden | Coal | Fossil Fuels | US Politics | Activism


Investigation: Majority of Directors of World’s Top Insurance Companies Tied to Polluting Industries

  2021-10-07 by in DeSmog

Just over half of all directors at 30 of the world’s largest insurance companies have affiliations to polluting companies and organisations, reveals an investigation by DeSmog, including several individuals holding senior roles at some of the world’s largest energy companies. The findings raise concerns over a potential pervasive conflict of interest on the boards at […]

  Tagged under: Insurance


Revealed: Two Thirds of Online Posts from Six Major European Fossil Fuel Companies ‘Greenwashing’

  2021-10-03 by in DeSmog

Nearly two thirds of social media posts put out by six major European fossil fuel and energy companies since the end of 2019 present a “green” image of the company, despite the majority of their business activity remaining in fossil fuels, reveals new analysis by DeSmog. The findings add to campaigner concerns that fossil fuel […]

  Tagged under: Fossil Fuels


Fossil Fuel Giants Ignoring IEA ‘Net Zero’ Report Despite Pledges, Analysis Finds

  2021-07-20 by in DeSmog

Fossil fuel companies are pressing ahead with new oil and gas developments, despite a recent warning from the International Energy Agency (IEA) that this will make the Paris Agreement goals impossible to meet, an analysis has found. According to the author of the analysis, the companies and industry bodies, most of which have made public […]

  Tagged under: Net Zero


The U.S. Shale Revolution Has Surrendered to Reality

  2021-07-16 by in DeSmog

“Drill, baby, drill is gone forever.”  That was the recent assessment of Saudi Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman of the American oil industry’s future potential. As Saudi Arabia’s energy minister, Prince Abdulaziz is one of the most influential voices in the global oil markets. Fortune termed it a “bold taunt,” and a warning to U.S. frackers […]

  Tagged under: Fracking | Saudi Arabia


Cleaning Up Methane Pollution From Permian Super Emitters is ‘Low Hanging Fruit’ for the Climate, Study Finds

  2021-06-04 by in DeSmog

Only a handful of super emitters are responsible for an enormous amount of the methane pollution in the Permian basin, according to a new study. And ratcheting down these emissions can lead to quick and significant wins for the climate. According to the study published on June 2 in the journal Environmental Science & Technology […]

  Tagged under: Methane


Steve Baker's #CostOfNetZero Campaign Trended But Only Because Steve Baker Kept Tweeting It

  2021-05-27 by in DeSmog

It’s been a busy week for the latest member of the UK’s most prominent climate science denial group – trending on Twitter, if not in real life. Steve Baker MP, the most recently appointed trustee of the Global Warming Policy Foundation, did not enter the fold quietly. This week, his #CostOfNetZero hashtag began trending, becoming […]

  Tagged under: Net Zero


New Study Decodes ExxonMobil’s ‘Modern’ Climate Misinformation

  2021-05-14 by in DeSmog

What’s the single word that fossil fuel giant ExxonMobil’s flagship environmental reports to investors and the public tie most closely to climate change and global warming? According to newly published research from Harvard science historian Naomi Oreskes and Harvard research associate Geoffrey Supran, it’s a simple four-letter word, one that carries overtones not only of […]

  Tagged under: Exxon | Climate Change | Disinformation and Misinformation


The Greenwashing Files: Fossil Fuel Giants Accused of 'Deceptive' Advertising

  2021-04-19 by in DeSmog

A major new catalogue of fossil fuel company adverts based on DeSmog's research shows the gap between their public image and the reality of their operations.


UK Government's North Sea Oil Plans 'Prioritise Corporate Interests' Over Climate Action

  2021-03-24 by in DeSmog

Campaigners have reacted with anger to the UK’s decision to allow new exploration for oil and gas in the North Sea, despite the recognition that it must be compatible with national climate goals. Climate campaigners had hoped that the UK would immediately stop issuing new licences to explore for and extract oil and gas from the […]


Election 2019: Boris Johnson Top Beneficiary of Donations from Supporters of Climate Science Denial

  2019-11-19 by in DeSmog

This election cycle has seen an unprecedented number of announcements from all parties on renewable energy, reforestation, and other items generally reserved for only the greenest on the political spectrum. So much so that some are calling this the ‘climate election’.  But elections are expensive things, and politicians rarely turn down a cheque. So if climate […]

  Tagged under: Renewable Energy


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