Message From the Editor

We know that the fossil fuel industry spends millions of dollars on shaping its image in an effort to block climate action. But a new analysis reveals how a relatively small number of PR firms have aided this campaign from behind the scenes over the last three decades. Nick Cunningham reports.

Meanwhile, our UK team takes a closer look at a Tory MP who suggested it is “morally wrong” to discourage poor countries from pursuing high-carbon growth on climate change grounds — it turns out he has a financial interest in numerous fossil fuel and mining companies. Phoebe Cooke and Adam Barnett have the story.

We also wanted to remind you about one of our most-read stories recently that looks at climate denial on Twitter, in case you haven’t had a chance to dive into it yet. We identify the top four fear-based narratives that today’s climate deniers are spreading to prevent climate policy. Read Stella Levantesi and Giulio Corsi’s piece here.

Have a story tip or feedback? Get in touch: editor@desmogblog.com.

Thanks,
Brendan DeMelle

Executive Director

P.S. Readers like you make it possible for DeSmog to hold accountable powerful people in industry and government. Even a $10 or $20 donation helps support DeSmog’s investigative journalism.

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

— By Nick Cunningham (7 min. read) —

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 past 30 years, engaging in PR campaigns on behalf of the fossil fuel industry to not only downplay the seriousness of climate change, but also to position industry-favored solutions as the preferred course of action.

Tory MP Who Criticised Climate Action For Impact on World’s Poor Has Stakes in 18 Extractive Companies

— By Phoebe Cooke and Adam Barnett (4 min. read)—

A Tory MP who suggested it is “morally wrong” to discourage poor countries from pursuing high-carbon growth on climate change grounds has a financial interest in numerous fossil fuel and mining companies.

Among the 18 extractive companies listed under the MP’s entry in the parliamentary register of interests are Shell and the world’s largest oilfield services company, Schlumberger.

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

— By Stella Levantesi and Giulio Corsi (10 min. read)—

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 companies, lobbyists, and their allies opposed to climate action — have moved past the lies.

If You Fund the Research, You Can Shape the World

— By Amy Westervelt, The Nation (6 min. read)—

Much has been made, and rightly so, of the Koch network’s impact on universities. Entire campus projects exist to ferret out Koch cash, which is powering everything from the Regulatory Studies Center at George Washington University to the Mercatus Center at George Mason University to the Center for Growth and Opportunity at Utah State University. The Koch strategy is straightforward: He who funds the research influences the research, and that research helps drive policy and public opinion.

But the Kochs, while wildly successful at playing the university game, have been far from the only corporate kingpins on the board. And they weren’t the first or even the second to join in. Heck, they weren’t even the first oil tycoons to realize the potential power of manipulating the American higher education.

Since Congress Lifted Crude Export Ban in 2015, US has Dropped ‘Climate Bomb’ on the World

— By Kenny Stancil, Common Dreams (6 min. read)—

After Congress lifted a ban on crude exports in late 2015, oil and gas production in the Permian Basin soared while domestic consumption remained flat—leading to a massive build-out of pipelines and other infrastructure that culminated in the U.S. “flooding global markets” with fossil fuels at the expense of humanity, in general, and vulnerable Gulf Coast communities already overburdened by pollution, in particular.

That’s the focus of the third chapter of The Permian Basin Climate Bomb, a six-part multimedia report by Oil Change International, Earthworks, and the Center for International Environmental Law. The latest installment, released Wednesday, shows that the drilling and fracking boom that turned this area in the U.S. Southwest into “the world’s single most prolific oil and gas field” over the past decade was not driven by rising domestic demand, but by a surge in exports after 2015.

Why the Oil Industry’s Pivot to Carbon Capture and Storage – While It Keeps on Drilling – Isn’t a Climate Change Solution

— By June Sekera, The New School and
Neva Goodwin, Tufts University (6 min. read)—

After decades of sowing doubt about climate change and its causes, the fossil fuel industry is now shifting to a new strategy: presenting itself as the source of solutions. This repositioning includes rebranding itself as a “carbon management industry.”

This strategic pivot was on display at the Glasgow climate summit and at a Congressional hearing in October 2021, where CEOs of four major oil companies talked about a “lower-carbon future.” That future, in their view, would be powered by the fuels they supply and technologies they could deploy to remove the planet-warming carbon dioxide their products emit – provided they get sufficient government support.

The Mercatus Center is a conservative think tank located at George Mason University and is a sister organization to the Institute for Humane Studies. The Mercatus Center was originally founded at Rutgers University by Richard Fink in the late 1970s, under the name the Center for Market Processes. Koch Industries began funding the organization when it moved to George Mason University in the 1980s, and still finances the center today. In 1999, the organization was renamed the Mercatus Center. Charles Koch and Richard Fink serve on its board of directors.

Read the full profileand browse other individuals and organizations in our Climate Disinformation Database and Koch Network Database