At the beginning of 2000s, as concerns about climate change grew, some of the biggest oil companies began to modify their climate change public relations strategies. Instead of denying the evidence to sow doubt, they decided to try and spin their actions in more of a positive light. To try and co-opt the debate. They learnt their...
Tag: CarbonCapture
COP host UAE emissions plan ‘insufficient’: analysis
New carbon-cutting plans by this year’s UN climate talks host the United Arab Emirates were branded “insufficient” by an analysis on Thursday that slammed the oil-rich nation for undermining its own targets with plans to increase fossil fuel production. The UAE, which will host the COP28 United Nations talks in November and December, released its...
The advertising blitz crafted to change your view of Big Oil
When one of Canada’s most influential oil lobby groups set out to cleanse its image of an industry proven to drive global heating, it designed a splashy advertising offensive to change public perception. In the ads, the six oilsands majors that make up the Pathways Alliance — Suncor Energy, Imperial Oil, Cenovus Energy, ConocoPhillips, Canadian...
Carbon Capture No Substitute for Emissions Cuts To Fight Climate Change: Report
The European Union and 17 countries are set to issue a statement on Friday warning against an increased reliance on carbon capture technology in the fight against climate change, according to reporting from Reuters. “Abatement technologies must not be used to green-light continued fossil fuel expansion,” the statement reads, according to the reporting. Carbon capture and...
Study: The ocean’s color is changing as a consequence of climate change
The color changes reflect significant shifts in essential marine ecosystems. The ocean’s color has changed significantly over the last 20 years, and the global trend is likely a consequence of human-induced climate change, report scientists at MIT, the National Oceanography Center in the U.K., and elsewhere. In a study appearing today in Nature, the team writes...
Cop28 president’s company explored dropping ‘oil’ from its name
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company voiced concern about ‘potential criticism’ in green rebranding brief to ad agencies A Middle Eastern oil company led by the man chairing this year’s UN climate summit considered dropping “oil” from its name in green rebranding attempt. Leaked documents reveal that executives at the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company made...
Climate movement must switch on to UAE threat
In a recent address to global climate envoys, the Emirati President of Cop28 Sultan Al Jaber proclaimed that the United Arab Emirates had “embraced the energy transition.” The speech was the fore-runner to the start of a typically slick public relations campaign, with the UAE’s Minister of Climate Change Mariam Almheiri telling Reuters that the world is...
Time is running out for the UAE to save its COP28
The world cannot afford this year’s climate summit to be a washout The United Arab Emirates is not the first petrostate to host a UN climate COP conference, nor the first authoritarian regime. Sultan al-Jaber, the oil executive it has picked to be president of this year’s COP28 meeting in Dubai, is likewise not the...
Oil billionaire Mukesh Ambani and famed activist Sunita Narain are both on the COP28 board
The UAE has appointed 31 people to the advisory board for the upcoming COP28 climate summit. The group represents a mix of former executives of oil companies, climate campaigners, energy experts, and corporate leaders such as BlackRock’s CEO Larry Fink and Siemens’s supervisory board chairman Joe Kaeser. Two Indians sit on the board, embodying the polar...
COP28 president says fossil fuels still have a role to play, prompting concerns about climate summit’s goals
The president of the UN’s COP28 climate conference has said that he sees a future for fossil fuels – even as scientists say the world must rapidly transition to clean energy – in remarks that have raised concerns about a backsliding on climate commitments. Sultan Al Jaber, who will oversee the UN’s COP28 climate summit in Dubai in November,...