ExxonKnews
March 10, 2025
“By researching existing life forms like algae and bacteria, ExxonMobil hopes one day to realize new sources for cleaner fuels at scale and, in the process, to make the future of energy literally green,” claims an article-length advertisement on the New York Times website.
Exxon’s “Future of Energy” ad, which began running on the New York Times website in 2018 and is still live today, describes company researchers toiling to farm and geoengineer algae biofuels in order to decrease the oil giant’s carbon footprint. It does not mention that compared to its plans for fossil fuel production, Exxon’s investments in algae research and production goals for the biofuels were a negligible fraction before they ended completely in 2023.
The ad is a classic example of a “native advertisement,” or a paid ad placed in news media publications and designed in-house to give it the appearance of journalistic reporting. And it’s part of an evolving — and often successful — effort by fossil fuel companies to “manipulate mass public opinion” about their role in the climate crisis using “misleading” advertising, according to new research published last week in the journal npj Climate Action by researchers at Boston University and the University of Cambridge.
