Message From the Editor

ExxonMobil is the world’s single largest producer of single-use plastics, according to a new report published this week. The Dow Chemical Company ranks second, the report finds, with the Chinese state-owned company Sinopec coming in third. Meanwhile, the top three lenders to single-use plastic projects are: Barclays and HSBC and Bank of America. “This is the first-time the financial and material flows of single-use plastic production have been mapped globally and traced back to their source,” said Toby Gardner, a Stockholm Environment Institute senior research fellow, who contributed to the report. Read more from Sharon Kelly here.

Also this week, the U.S. House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing scrutinizing wasteful fossil fuel subsidies. Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA), who chairs the subcommittee, invited the CEOs of Devon Energy, EOG Resources, and ExxonMobil, as well as executives from the energy industry lobby group Western Energy Alliance. None accepted the invitation to appear before the committee. Nick Cunningham reports.

And, in an under-reported SEC order, a fracking sand company was found to be misleading its investors for years about its products and results. Fairmount Santrol claimed that its product could increase the amount of oil a well could produce by 92 percent if frackers used its specially engineered sand. Meaning companies could essentially double their reserves estimates — if this claim were true. It was not. Justin Mikulka unpacks what happened.

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.

Who’s Making — and Funding — the World’s Plastic Trash?

— By Sharon Kelly (7 min. read) —

ExxonMobil is the world’s single largest producer of single-use plastics, according to a new report published today by the Australia-based Minderoo Foundation, one of Asia’s biggest philanthropies.

The Dow Chemical Company ranks second, the report finds, with the Chinese state-owned company Sinopec coming in third. Indorama Ventures — a Thai company that entered the plastics market in 1995 — and Saudi Aramco, owned by the Saudi Arabian government, round out the top five.

House Hearing Scrutinizes Billions of Dollars in Fossil Fuel Subsidies. Invited Oil Execs are a No-Show.

— By Nick Cunningham (4 min. read) —

On May 19, the U.S. House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing scrutinizing wasteful fossil fuel subsidies. Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA), who chairs the subcommittee, invited the CEOs of Devon Energy, EOG Resources, and ExxonMobil, as well as executives from the energy industry lobby group Western Energy Alliance. None accepted the invitation to appear before the committee.

“Devon Energy is a Fortune 500 company, and the biggest oil producer on federal land in the Lower 48 states. That should have been reason enough for Devon to be here today, answering questions with significant implications for our public lands and natural resources,” Rep. Porter said in her opening statement. “Like all oil companies, Devon gets special tax breaks intended to encourage fossil fuel production.”

SEC Finds Fracking Sand Company Misled Investors With Claims of ‘Game Changing’ Sand

— By Justin Mikulka (9 min. read) —

Fracking sand company Fairmount Santrol had a very clever corporate slogan for being in the business of selling products for oil and gas wells: “Do Good, Do Well.”

The company sold its engineered sand to the fracking industry on the premise that oil and gas wells would “do good” when its “game changing” sand was used in the mixture to frack oil wells — hydraulic fracturing involves blasting a mixture of water, sand, and chemicals into wells to fracture shale and release the oil and gas trapped within.

Science Museum Head Defends Shell Sponsorship of Climate Change Exhibition

— By Adam Barnett (2 min. read) —

The director of the Science Museum in London has defended Shell’s sponsorship of a climate change exhibition amid growing public calls for the museum to cut ties with the energy giant.

Ian Blatchford, director of the Science Museum Group, wrote in an email to staff on 29 April, posted online by Culture Unstained, that sponsorship by energy companies like Shell, BP, and Equinor were achieving a “public good” by educating people about climate change, including possible solutions.

Dozens of Christian Organisations Announce Fossil Fuel Divestment Ahead of G7 and COP26

— By Rachel Sherrington (3 min. read) —

Three dozen Christian organisations and institutions from across the world — including dioceses from the Church of England — announced their divestment from fossil fuels today and urged leaders to take greater action on climate change ahead of major global summits this year.

Scheduled for June, leaders of the G7 nations will meet in the UK and environmentalists hope climate will be a priority. Meanwhile, Glasgow will host the annual UN climate conference, COP26, in November.

From the Climate Disinformation Database: Michael Shellenberger

Michael Shellenberger is the founder and president of Environmental Progress, and the co-founder of the Breakthrough Institute where he served as president from 2003 to 2015. He co-founded the Apollo Alliance, now the Blue-Green Coalition, in 2002. Shellenberger advocates for nuclear power, while he has questioned whether we may be “destroying the environment” by switching to renewable energy sources like wind and solar power. In June 2020, Shellenberger wrote in an article originally published in Forbes: “On behalf of environmentalists everywhere, I would like to formally apologize for the climate scare we created over the last 30 years. Climate change is happening. It’s just not the end of the world. It’s not even our most serious environmental problem.”

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