Big Advertising Move By Big Oil; From Of Greenwashing To "You Can't Live Without Us", Along W. Lots Of Tech Hopium [View all]

Four of the world’s biggest oil and gas companies have spent the last four years systematically shifting away from climate-friendly advertising to push a new message: fossil fuels are here to stay, a report has found. Campaign group Clean Creatives analysed 1,859 communications from BP, Shell, ExxonMobil, and Chevron published between 2020 and 2024, spanning paid advertisements on Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram and television, alongside press releases, investor communications and executive speeches.

The report found a “consistent and coordinated narrative shift” from attempts to portray the companies as climate leaders to embracing what Clean Creatives calls “fossil fuel permanence” — the idea that the world can’t function without oil and gas, which account for at least half of the carbon dioxide emissions fuelling the climate crisis. “Despite differences in tone, BP, Shell, ExxonMobil and Chevron followed strikingly similar narrative shifts, moving from ‘part of the solution’ to ‘you can’t live without us’ messaging,” Clean Creatives said.

This evolution marks a new era of climate messaging that is more sophisticated than traditional forms of greenwashing based on making false environmental claims and harder to challenge, the report argues. Companies are now promoting speculative technologies for reducing emissions — such as carbon capture and storage (CCS) and blue hydrogen — as justifications for expanding oil and gas production.

Clean Creatives calls this “climate gaslighting”, as the oil industry attempts to persuade the public that the climate crisis is under control, while investing in projects that will lock in fossil fuel dependence for decades to come. “Greenwashing has taken on a new form. Instead of making false claims, oil majors are promoting false solutions like CCS and natural gas, even though they are derived from and create long-term dependence on fossil fuels.” said Nayantara Dutta, head of research at Clean Creatives and lead author of the report. “While the world is phasing out fossil fuels, oil companies are crafting a narrative which keeps them profitable and in power.”

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https://www.desmog.com/2026/03/17/you-cant-live-without-us-how-big-oil-pivoted-from-climate-friendly-messaging-to-normalise-dependence-on-fossil-fuels/