Message From the Editor

Who really sets the price of oil? Is it the market? Is it regulators? I bet you might think of that every time you fill your tank if you haven’t been able to switch to electric.

This week, a group of Democratic representatives on the House Natural Resources Committee, including  Arizona’s Raul Grijalva and California’s Katie Porter, sent a letter to the Department of the Interior with evidence that a group of eight shale drillers tampered with prices to drive more profits.

As if Big Oil doesn’t make enough money. In 2022 alone, ExxonMobil had earnings of $55.7 billion –  a company record and a historic high for the Western oil industry. 

The Democrats want to know: Will there be repercussions for even attempting to collude to push up prices? “Such market manipulation would have enormous impacts on the price of gas paid by working families across the country,” the lawmakers wrote in the July 9 letter. As usual, the brunt of oil producers’ profits falls on the shoulders of the average American worker – people like us.

Not only are some oil producers alleged to have fixed prices, but they cover up the pollution that those big profits produce. And they do this through deceptive advertising.

But not everyone is buying their message. This week, Academy Award-winning director Adam McKay, (The Big Short; Don’t Look Up) released a parody ExxonMobil advertisement telling people to wake up to how Big Oil gets away with causing climate change – one of the biggest existential threats of all time.

“Sure, our own scientists accurately predicted climate change 60 years ago. But we didn’t want you to know about it. That’s why we spent billions on ads and media manipulation covering it up,” the voiceover of the parody states.

McKay’s mock ad is telling us to wake up so we don’t keep letting oil majors get away with it all – from price fixing to greenwashing advertising.

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Thanks,
Brendan DeMelle
Executive Director

P.S. Readers like you power our journalism dedicated to climate accountability. Can you donate $10 or $20 right now to support more of this essential work?

Image credit:  Pixhere (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

‘All of Our Tricks Worked’: Spoof ExxonMobil Ad Nails Just How Easy It’s Been for Big Oil

— By Brett Wilkins (2 min. read) —

A new parody ExxonMobil advertisement released Tuesday by a group founded by Adam McKay — the Academy Award-winning writer and director of the blockbuster doomsday climate comedy Don’t Look Up — mocks humanity for letting Big Oil get away with causing one of the biggest existential threats of all time.

“There’s a world we all want to live in again. A world where the air is pure and crisp and clean and fills your lungs with joy. A world where you can drink water from any river or creek and your house will still be there tomorrow if it rains,” the narrator of Yellow Dot Studio’s latest parody video says in the two-minute clip. “Here at Exxon, we believe in that world, and we’re working hard to make sure that our customers believe that we believe in that world.”

Oil and Gas Leases on Federal Lands in Question as Lawmakers Eye Shale Collusion Allegations

— By Sharon Kelly (4 min. read) —

A dozen Democratic lawmakers on the House Natural Resources Committee want to know if shale drillers could see their oil and gas leases and operations on federal lands suspended amid allegations that the companies may have colluded to drive oil prices up.

“Such market manipulation would have enormous impacts on the price of gas paid by working families across the country,” the lawmakers wrote in a July 9 letter to the Department of the Interior.

Meet the Labour Government’s New Climate Team

— By Phoebe Cooke, Adam Barnett and Joey Grostern (12 min) —

Labour has wasted no time in appointing its climate team, who are tasked with getting the UK back on track to meet its net zero targets.

As a record 335 new MPs take tours of (and selfies in) their new place of work, we take a look at those responsible for getting the UK to net zero emissions by 2050, and protecting our environment.

The Direct Links Between Southern Brazil’s Massive Flooding and Climate Denial

— By Lucas Araldi (10 min. read) —

On May 9, volunteers and emergency workers were still rescuing people and animals who remained stranded on the sixth day of flooding on the streets of Rio Grande do Sul’s capital, Porto Alegre. Social media images of the rooftop rescue of a horse named Caramelo shocked the world. 

A day before the dramatic rescue, Porto Alegre’s deputy mayor, Ricardo Gomes, appeared on a livestream wearing a cap with the Brasil Paralelo logo. Brasil Paralelo is a far-right media company with a streaming platform focusing on “journalism, entertainment, and education,” as its website states. The company was founded in Porto Alegre in 2016 and serves as a main channel of climate denialism among right-wing groups in Brazil. By wearing the Brasil Paralelo logo, Gomes associated himself with an institution that experts say is a purveyor of climate denialism, at the height of a climate-related disaster. 

Two Thirds of Anti-Net Zero Tories Wiped Out in UK Election

— By Adam Barnett and Joey Grostern (5 min. read) —

Labour’s landslide victory over the Conservatives has left the party’s anti-net zero wing in tatters. 

DeSmog’s analysis of Westminster’s influential Net Zero Scrutiny Group (NZSG) found that two thirds of its supporters are no longer represented in Parliament following the July 4 general election.

From the Climate Disinformation Database: VML

VML, formerly known as Wunderman Thompson, is an ad and PR agency under the WPP holding company, which was formed October 17, 2023. Wunderman Thompson was known for its advertising work for Shell. On June 9, 2023, environmental groups picketed Wunderman Thompson’s offices after the UK’s Advertising Standard Authority (ASA) banned the agency’s ads for Shell, claiming they misled consumers about the scope of its fossil fuel business.

Read the full profile and browse other individuals and organizations in our Climate Disinformation Database, Ad & PR Database, and Koch Network Database.