What a years-long probe of Big Oil reveals about its climate strategy

Some of the world’s largest oil companies have privately expressed skepticism of the Paris agreement, federal climate regulations and their own goals of reaching “net zero” emissions by mid-century, even as they publicly voiced support for these efforts, according to documents that congressional Democrats released Tuesday.

The documents also detail industry efforts to fund university research into the environmental benefits of natural gas. They were obtained by Democrats on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee and the Senate Budget Committee as part of a years-long investigation.

Democrats say the findings demonstrate that the oil industry has misled the public about its role in causing and addressing climate change, an allegation the industry rejects. The new documents come as oil companies already face a wave of lawsuits that seek to hold them responsible for extreme weather events fueled by global warming.

One 2018 exchange shows an ExxonMobil executive downplaying the impact of the Paris agreement on the company’s plans for continued fossil fuel production.

The oil giant in 2015 voiced support for the landmark agreement, which calls for limiting global warming to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) and ideally to 1.5C (2.7F). But Pete Trelenberg, Exxon’s manager of environmental policy and planning, wrote that these targets should not influence internal decision-making on exploration and production of oil and gas.

“I don’t think hypothetical 1.5 deg C scenarios (vs hypothetical 2 deg C scenarios) should really change our thinking vis a vis upstream strategy,” Trelenberg wrote. “We don’t yet see the world even approaching a 2 deg C pathway ... let alone a 1.5 deg C pathway.”

Many top scientists agree that humanity is not on track to meet the 1.5C goal, a move that could help save coral reefs and stave off catastrophic sea level rise. To achieve this crucial climate target, they say, the world must swiftly phase out fossil fuels, which are responsible for more than three-quarters of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Another 2018 exchange shows a Shell official disputing a report by the Energy Transitions Commission, a think tank, on the feasibility of net-zero emissions by mid-century - a target the company would later adopt.

“Please be aware that the ETC is pushing harder & faster for net-zero carbon emissions than Shell finds plausible at this time (e.g. 2050/60 vs 2070),” the Shell official wrote to colleagues. “Therefore, please be exceedingly mindful when/if we look to retweet or cite ETC findings.”

When Shell was led by CEO Ben van Beurden, the firm announced plans in 2020 to become a net-zero company, although it has since weakened its 2030 emissions reduction target under current CEO Wael Sawan.

BP, which also recently dialed back some climate commitments, has publicly thrown its weight behind federal regulation of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. But privately, an executive in 2019 applauded a proposal to roll back methane rules from Andrew Wheeler, then the Environmental Protection Agency administrator under President Donald Trump.

“Wheeler outlined the legal theory to for [sic] rolling back direct regulation of methane. This is aligned with our thinking but probably the first time it was said in public?” wrote Nuno Alves, then BP’s senior director of policy and government affairs.

Oil company spokespeople rejected claims that they have misled the public.

“These are tired allegations that have already been publicly addressed through previous Congressional hearings on the same topic and litigation in the courts,” Exxon spokeswoman Erin Szeligowski said in an email. “As we have said time and time again, climate change is real, and we have an entire business dedicated to reducing emissions - both our own and others.”

BP spokesman J.P. Fielder said in an email that the firm “is committed to transitioning from an international oil company to an integrated energy company.” A Shell spokesman declined to comment.

The documents also detail how oil firms have funded university research that touts the benefits of natural gas and carbon-capture technology, which sucks carbon dioxide from polluting facilities and stores it deep underground. The industry and some scientists say carbon capture could be an essential tool in meeting global climate goals. But many environmentalists have voiced concerns that natural gas wells and pipelines can leak massive amounts of methane, and that carbon capture has failed to deliver in several prominent trials.

BP sponsored supportive research on both technologies from Princeton University’s Carbon Mitigation Initiative, the documents show. The company donated between $2.1 million and $2.6 million annually to the initiative, known as CMI, between 2012 and 2017.

BP executives were pleased with the results. One executive wrote in 2017 that a CMI-funded researcher was a “big advocate” of the “case for gas.” Another wrote in 2020 that CMI could “recommend an infrastructure program to advance net zero policies with an emphasis on CCUS,” using an acronym for carbon capture, utilization and storage.

CMI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

For nearly three years, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee have been investigating a handful of oil companies and two of their top trade associations - the American Petroleum Institute and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. An earlier trove of documents released in 2022 showed a Shell executive seeking to burnish the company’s image in the face of criticism from climate activists.

After Republicans took control of the House in the 2022 midterm elections, the committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Jamie Raskin (Md.), was forced to temporarily freeze the probe. But Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), a vocal climate advocate who chairs the Senate Budget Committee, later collaborated with Raskin on a report on the findings.

The Budget panel will hold a hearing on the matter on Wednesday. In a statement, Whitehouse said the documents reveal “new details about the disinformation campaign Big Oil is waging to obstruct action on climate safety.”

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) criticized Democrats for reviving the probe and for backing President Biden’s climate policies.

“Democrats are resuscitating their failed investigation from last Congress in an attempt to distract from the Biden Administration’s radical climate agenda that is harming our nation,” Comer said in a statement.

The documents could add fresh evidence to climate litigation against oil companies in courtrooms across the country. Eight states, dozens of municipalities and the District of Columbia have sued fossil fuel firms for allegedly misleading the public about the climate damage they knew their products would cause.

Some of the suits also name the American Petroleum Institute as a defendant. Others, such as a case brought by Puerto Rico, cite internal emails previously unearthed by the congressional probe.

When announcing one of the latest suits last year, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) cited the climate-change-fueled wildfires, heat waves, flooding and drought that have battered his state over the last decade.

“This last 10 years, it’s shook me to my core,” Newsom said. “These are things that we imagined we might be experiencing in 2040 and 2050, but that have been brought into the present moment, and the time for accountability is now.”