Major oil firms like BP, Shell, Exxon, and Chevron have altered their public communications since 2020, moving away from climate pledges toward emphasizing fossil fuels' role in energy security, according to a Clean Creatives report. This change followed Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine and aligns with analyses of their advertisements and annual reports. Recent global oil disruptions highlight vulnerabilities in fossil fuel dependence.
In 2020, amid falling oil prices due to the COVID-19 pandemic, companies such as Exxon Mobil promoted algae-to-fuel conversion, Chevron highlighted carbon capture, and BP touted green hydrogen production. Critics labeled these efforts greenwashing, as they distracted from core fossil fuel operations, per a Clean Creatives report analyzing over 1,800 advertisements, press releases, and social media campaigns from BP, Shell, Exxon, and Chevron between 2020 and 2024. The report notes a pivot after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, when supply issues raised prices and firms stressed fossil fuels' importance for energy security. “Oil companies are not trying to follow the winds of the sustainable transition anymore,” said Nayantara Dutta, head of research at Clean Creatives. “They’re not trying to necessarily look like the good guys.” By 2023, messaging backtracked on climate promises, suggesting fossil fuels could expand alongside emissions reductions—a shift Clean Creatives terms gaslighting. “We call it gaslighting because they’re confusing people about what the truth actually is and what their operations are achieving,” Dutta added. In 2024, firms used terms like “responsible, balanced, pragmatic” for a fossil fuel-inclusive energy future, extending into 2025 by linking it to AI data centers. A separate study by Jennie Stephens of Maynooth University, published in Energy, Sustainability, and Society, examined annual reports from 2016 to 2022. It found BP, Exxon, Shell, and Total Energies portrayed renewables like solar and wind as supporting fossil fuel expansion or highlighting intermittency and costs. Robert Brulle, an environmental sociologist at Brown University, noted firms seek a “social license to operate” via PR to counter opposition. Recent events, including a U.S.-Israel war on Iran disrupting 15% of global oil via the Strait of Hormuz, have spiked U.S. gas prices by 87 cents per gallon in a month and boosted interest in electric vehicles. Natural gas prices rose in Asia and Europe, prompting nuclear investment calls. “The energy security argument about natural gas is kind of being turned on its head,” Brulle said.
