As to a recent analysis by InfluenceMap, a think tank that tracks lobbying by the fossil fuel business, groups representing the oil and gas industry have been impeding the worldwide transition towards renewable energy and electric cars since at least 1967 by employing the same strategy. The July 11 research details how, over 50 years, the American Petroleum Institute and two of its European equivalents used the same justifications to undermine, reject, or postpone taking action on climate change, even as our understanding of the role that fossil fuels play in global warming changed.
Lobbying tactics unchanged
Researchers at InfluenceMap examined narrative patterns that appeared in more than 50 instances between 1967 and 2023, a period during which the fossil fuel sector opposed legislation aimed at mitigating climate change. They discovered that industry associations consistently advocated for a “all-of-the-above,” technology-neutral strategy to combat climate change while downplaying the usefulness and cost of fossil fuel substitutes. Industry associations also used energy security, a concern that has grown in importance since the commencement of the conflict in Ukraine, to support their arguments against renewable energy sources. For instance, the American Petroleum Institute said in 1975 that the Clean Air Act would impair “energy self-sufficiency” by taking capital away from oil and gas production. A similar case was made by the industry group to delay the switch to electric cars the previous year. The American Petroleum Institute claimed in comments to the EPA in 2023 that the country’s increased reliance on vital minerals mined outside of the US for use in electric vehicles would “negatively impact US energy security” as a result of the agency’s new emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles.
Decades of delaying action
Representing around 600 oil and gas corporations, the American Petroleum Institute is one of the biggest and most powerful associations for the fossil fuel sector worldwide. Based on a study of lobbying reports by OpenSecrets, it usually spends between $4 million and $9 million on federal lobbying annually. For federal lobbying, the organization spent $1.8 million in the first three months of 2024. July 22 is the next date for filing. Additionally, the American Petroleum Institute began to spend millions on federal elections in 2016; these expenditures primarily benefited Republicans. As of June 21, it has directed $2.5 million for the 2023–2024 Senate Leadership Fund and $1 million toward the Congressional Leadership Fund. The goal of the two organizations is to elect Republicans to the House and Senate, respectively. To defend new oil and gas projects, fossil fuel businesses frequently point to customer demand, according to InfluenceMap program manager Tom Holen. This analysis refutes that claim by exposing the industry’s complicity in upholding the existing quo and defending fossil fuels’ hegemony in the world economy.
Old arguments resurface
According to Holen, “this persistent use of false narratives has probably delayed the energy transition for decades and continues to pose a serious threat to the advancement of climate policy.” The UN Climate Program discovered in 2023 that the world’s countries are not on pace to meet the Paris Climate Accords’ aim of keeping global warming to 1.5C over pre-industrial levels. Three-quarters of the hundreds of climate experts surveyed by the Guardian this year believe that global temperatures will rise by at least 2.5C this century. The lack of progress on climate solutions was attributed by over 60% of respondents to corporate interests. The InfluenceMap analysis also expands on other studies concerning the fossil fuel industry’s multi-decade effort to cast doubt on its contribution to climate change. In a joint report published earlier this year, Democrats on the Senate Budget Committee and the House Oversight Committee charged the fossil fuel sector with “climate denial, disinformation, and doublespeak.” According to the research, the American Petroleum Institute and other trade associations have been used by oil and gas firms to disseminate false information and advocate for measures that are unlikely to pass and with which they do not wish to be linked.
Climate science ignored
The Los Angeles Times and Inside Climate News reported in 2015 that Exxon knew, as early as 1977, that burning fossil fuels would warm the world, yet the company nonetheless went ahead and launched an attempt to delay the regulation of greenhouse gasses that warm the earth. This finding prompted a three-year congressional probe. According to InfluenceMap’s study, several American Petroleum Institute members have deviated from the industry organization on certain climate policy. For instance, BP and Shell currently encourage the electrification of light-duty cars.
