According to the InfluenceMap report, the main accusation is ExxonMobil, Chevron and Toyota
InfluenceMap, a London-based organization that studies the influence of lobbies on government decisions, accuses ExxonMobil, Chevron and Toyota of being the most active companies to influence climate policies and strategies that are taken at international conferences on the global warming, such as the one underway in Glasgow.
In the report, released shortly before the conference began, the two largest US oil companies are judged to be the most influential companies “in manipulating governments” to direct them to take “incredibly dangerous paths” in approaching climate solutions. The American Petroleum Institute, a study center that annually distributes over 200,000 publications on the subject of energy and is considered serious and authoritative, was accused by “The Guardian” in an article dedicated to research.
The fossil fuel industry is very active in defending its interests and pushing back as far as possible the date when the world will only use clean energy sources. According to InfluenceMap, the oil giants have fostered and fueled US President Joe Biden’s resistance to the green agenda, slowing the country’s exit from fossil fuels.
The report was released just a week after ExxonMobil chief executive Darren Woods was accused of lying to the US Congress. Woods and the managers of other major oil companies were questioned under oath about the long campaign waged to discredit the claim that fossil fuels are among the causes of global warming. According to InfluenceMap, the sophisticated lobbying tactics adopted partly explain why the governments of some countries such as Australia have struggled to adopt a more ambitious climate defense policy ahead of the COP26 conference, and have often become an obstacle to the success of the negotiations. .
The report also placed Toyota among the companies most able to influence decisions, due to its opposition to setting binding deadlines for the elimination of fossil fuels. The Japanese company is among the leading manufacturers of hybrid, battery and gasoline-powered cars, and was overtaken in 2020 by Tesla, which produces only electric cars, in market capitalization.
Ed Collins, director of InfluenceMap, said the transition to clean energy will always remain very difficult if governments do not take measures against “the filibuster and anti-scientific lobby of vested interests in the fossil fuel sectors.” Even the Glasgow agreement to end the use of coal may have been favored by the gas lobbies, as active as those of oil. InfluenceMap cites BP, the Austrian energy company OMV and the Russian giant Gazprom, which by opening and closing the taps of supplies to Europe is able to influence the decisions of governments.
A spokesperson for Exxon quoted by the Guardian replied to the report: “There are conflicting views on how best to address the risks of climate change,” he said. ExxonMobil supports some climate policies and opposes others. But it would be a mistake to equate such political disagreements with promoting ‘disinformation’ about the climate ”. Chevron and Toyota have not yet responded to the InfluenceMap survey.
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