Earthworks' Report to Show How Oil and Gas Majors Are Obstructing Climate Action, Moving Climate Emissions off Their Books Without Reducing Emissions

WHAT: Tricks of the Trade - Deceptive Practices, Climate Delay And Greenwashing In The Oil And Gas Industry takes a comprehensive look at the climate commitments from eight of the leading oil and gas companies operating in the United States and problematic strategies these companies take towards achieving them. The report attempts to estimate how they stack up to what science tells us must be done to keep global warming below 1.5 degC but finds that no company is providing enough data. Additionally companies are relying on heavily on asset divestiture for reducing their emissions (but with no effect on global emissions).

WHY: As the most recent IPCC report has made clear, "vested economic and political interests" are currently publishing "rhetoric and misinformation that undermines climate science and disregards risk and urgency." This report shows how specific oil and gas companies - bp, Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Equinor, Occidental, TotalEnergies, and ConocoPhillips - are obstructing action by making climate commitments without providing the data transparency necessary to track their progress. The result is a confusing landscape where accountability is nearly impossible. Meanwhile, these companies are receiving praise for their unsubstantiated claims of progress. The report suggests a higher level of scrutiny must be applied to industry climate promises and emissions reporting and (like the IPCC) calls for immediate government action to begin a managed decline of fossil fuels.

WHEN: The report will be released April 11th at 12:01 EST

WHO: Tricks of the Trade - Deceptive Practices, Climate Delay And Greenwashing In The Oil And Gas Industry is authored by Josh Eisenfeld, Raquel Dominguez, and Raphael Breit of Earthworks, a national environmental organization with more than a decade of experience documenting the oil and gas industry's methane pollution across the world through research publications and the use of optical gas imaging cameras by certified thermographers.