Oil and gas majors stick to their guns on climate advertising
Original story by: Yahoo Entertainment
Last updated: Oct 23, 2025
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- Context: Oil and gas companies are facing increasing legal scrutiny for their role in climate change. While other industries have faced stricter regulations, these companies continue to promote climate-friendly marketing claims. This strategy, adopted since the early 2000s, shifts from denying climate change to positioning themselves as key players in energy transition and low-carbon technologies.
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- Detailed Summary:
- Oil and gas firms have transitioned from denying climate change to marketing themselves as participants in the energy transition, highlighting investments in carbon capture, biofuels, solar, and hydrogen.
- Critics argue these claims are misleading, as core oil and gas extraction continues unabated, providing "false reassurance" according to experts like Benjamin Franta, who equates greenwashing to climate denial in its impact.
- An analysis of over 2,000 advertisements from five major US oil companies since 2006 shows a significant shift in the 2020s away from fossil fuel promotion towards claims of leadership in low-carbon technologies, with companies like BP and ExxonMobil emphasizing climate solutions.
- Oil majors are increasingly prioritizing these low-carbon messages over earlier claims of carbon neutrality, which were more prevalent during periods of heightened climate activism.
- Legal challenges against oil companies for greenwashing are escalating globally. TotalEnergies faces a ruling in France over its climate pledges, which could set important precedents given the limited legal history of such claims against fossil fuel giants.
- While some greenwashing claims have been rejected in courts (e.g., Repsol in Spain, a New York court case), others are pending, such as a shareholder case against Santos in Australia.
- In contrast to the fossil fuel industry, other sectors like aviation, food, and clothing, particularly in Europe, have seen crackdowns on vague sustainability claims, forcing brands to revise their environmental messaging and removing "carbon neutral" guarantees ahead of upcoming EU directives.
- Oil and gas companies remain a prime target for legal action due to their historical contribution to global warming and alleged decades of disinformation. Dozens of cases are lodged in Europe and the US, with some jurisdictions, like California, seeking substantial financial contributions for climate change costs, drawing parallels to the tobacco industry's eventual liability for downplaying health impacts.
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