New Report: “Big Oil’s Deceptive Climate Ads”

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Four oil majors — BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, and Shell — have spent the last 25 years running extensive advertising campaigns that push “a deceptive narrative that oil and gas companies are leaders in the fight against climate change, when in fact they are actively fueling climate catastrophe around the globe,” according to a new report from the Center for Climate Integrity (CCI) that examined more than 300 unique climate-related ads from the companies. 

“Big Oil’s Deceptive Climate Ads: How Four Oil Majors Sold False Promises from 2000-2025” is the first-ever analysis of the climate-related advertisements and advertising campaigns produced by BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, and Shell across the first quarter of the 21st century. Using information from the best available public sources, CCI’s report identifies and documents seven distinct categories of climate deception in the oil majors’ advertisements: 

1. Overstating actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
2. Exaggerating commitments to renewable energy 
3. Shifting responsibility to individual consumers 
4. Selling the false solution of natural gas 
5. Pushing the false solution of carbon capture and storage
6. Seeding false narratives about hydrogen
7. Promoting the false solution of algae biofuels. 

“These deceptive advertisements not only misrepresent the climate impacts of the companies’ products, initiatives, and actions, but also feed a larger false narrative that oil and gas companies are part of the solution to climate change,” the report concludes. 

The new analysis comes as the four oil majors face dozens of lawsuits from state and local governments that accuse the companies of conducting an ongoing campaign to deceive the public about the climate harms of their products. Some of the advertising campaigns explored in the new report are cited as evidence in those cases, including in the State of Connecticut’s consumer protection lawsuit against ExxonMobil, which a judge ruled earlier this month could proceed toward trial. 

“Big Oil’s climate deception has evolved from lying about the problem to lying about solutions,” said Center for Climate Integrity President Richard Wiles. “For two and half decades now, these companies have sold the public a false and misleading image of their industry as working to solve the climate crisis, all while doubling down on fossil fuels and making the problem worse. Any business that floods consumers with such brazenly deceptive advertising must be held accountable.” 

Read the report and explore the ads.

Background on U.S. Climate Accountability Lawsuits Against Big Oil:
Ten U.S. states — California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai`i, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont — and the District of Columbia, along with dozens of city, county, and tribal governments in California, Colorado, Hawai`i, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Puerto Rico, have active lawsuits to hold major oil and gas companies accountable for deceiving the public about their products’ role in climate change. These cases collectively represent more than 1 in 4 people living in the United States. Last year, the attorney general of Michigan announced plans to take fossil fuel companies to court.