New Analysis: Big Oil still can’t be trusted

What would you say to an arsonist who promised to light fewer fires? That’s what the world’s biggest oil companies are doing right now.

This past week, we published a new assessment of the latest climate pledges from BP, Chevron, Eni, Equinor, ExxonMobil, Repsol, Shell, and Total. In the paper, called Big Oil Reality Check, we focus specifically on how these companies’ plans stack up against the bare minimum of what’s needed to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius as outlined in the Paris Agreement.

Click here to check out the new analysis. Spoiler: Big Oil & Gas climate plans don't stack up!

Horrifying fires are raging across the West Coast of the United States. This year’s cyclone and hurricanes seasons are breaking record after record. Frontline communities and Indigenous Peoples across the world continue to rise up to protect their land and water from extractive industries. Global oil and gas markets are crumbling in the face of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.

Even now, in the face of all this, with their social license and financial bottom lines facing unprecedented threats, the world’s big oil and gas companies are still not confronting the reality of the climate crisis. Just burning the oil and gas reserves in already developed fields and wells globally would push the world beyond 1.5ºC, even if coal use were phased out overnight.

As one might expect from corporations notorious for decades of climate deception, the climate plans we looked at use fancy terminology and convoluted metrics to cover up still grossly inadequate levels of action.

Here's one of the most important tables in the new paper:

If you want to go beyond just reading the new analysis, you can help spread the word on social media. Together, we can make sure people aren’t taken in by these companies’ hollow promises:

Not on social? Forward this email to friends and family. Additionally, here is some great coverage our release generated in the past week you can send around!

• "On climate change, oil and gas companies have a long way to go" - Vox
• "Big Oil’s Climate Plans Fail at Every Metric" - Gizmodo
• "'The math doesn't yet add up.' Net‑zero plans fall short" - E&E News

In solidarity,

David Tong
Senior Campaigner
Energy Futures & Transitions Team