big oil

Marathon Petroleum laid off nearly 2,000 workers across the U.S. despite taking more than $2 billion in federal tax bailouts meant to soften the blow of the pandemic, a new report from BailoutWatch says. The company spent millions on lobbying, including on specific provisions in the Cares Act. “Executives receiving this bailout did nothing to […]

By Brett Wilkins A new report published Wednesday by a trio of progressive advocacy groups lifts the veil on so-called “net zero” climate pledges, which are often touted by corporations and governments as solutions to the climate emergency, but which the paper’s authors argue are merely a dangerous form of greenwashing that should be eschewed […]

By Kenny Stancil In a historic rebuke of fossil fuel giant ExxonMobil, shareholders on Wednesday voted to elect at least two people to the company’s board of directors who were backed by activist investors eager to accelerate the transition to clean energy. During Exxon’s annual shareholder meeting, an activist hedge fund called Engine No. 1 […]

In a first-of-its-kind ruling, a court of law has held a private company responsible for its contributions to the climate crisis. The court at The Hague in the Netherlands ruled Thursday that fossil-fuel giant Royal Dutch Shell must reduce its emissions by 45 percent by 2030. “This is a turning point in history,” Roger Cox, […]

By Sharon Kelly What’s the single word that fossil fuel giant ExxonMobil’s flagship environmental reports to investors and the public tie most closely to climate change and global warming? According to newly published research from Harvard science historian Naomi Oreskes and Harvard research associate Geoffrey Supran, it’s a simple four-letter word, one that carries overtones […]

By Rich Collett-White and Rachel Sherrington Fossil fuel companies could face legal challenges over their misleading advertising, after a DeSmog investigation uncovered the extent of their “greenwashing.” Environmental lawyers ClientEarth have put companies on notice with the publication of the Greenwashing Files. The analyses, which use DeSmog’s research, show how adverts of major fossil fuel […]

As the world celebrated Earth Day, Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio and Corporation Counsel James E. Johnson on Thursday announced that New York City filed suit over Big Oil’s decades of lies about fossil fuels and the climate emergency — just the latest addition to more than two dozen similar cases launched by U.S. communities. […]

By Jessica Corbett “The boardrooms of the world’s largest banks are polluted to the core… How are we ever meant to stop the climate crisis if the world’s most powerful decision-makers are in bed with the companies behind the wheel!?” That’s how Bank on Our Future — a UK-based network pressuring financial players to align […]