Fraud by the oil and gas industry 

For at least the last sixty years, fossil fuel industry executives have deceived the public about the harm caused by their businesses so that their companies can continue to generate massive profits. This is the textbook definition of fraud — criminal deception intended to result in financial gain. The penalty for fraud in Canada is two to fourteen years in prison. 

Harm caused by the fossil fuel industries

As outlined in an earlier blog, carbon emissions from burning oil, gas and coal are the primary cause of the climate emergency. The impacts of a rapidly warming atmosphere include a litany of extreme weather events which will become more frequent and intense. Other impacts of global warming include desertification, ocean acidification, water scarcity, flooding, wildfires, and rising sea levels.

Extracting, processing and transporting fossil fuels dump toxins into oceans, rivers, streams, and groundwater. Fossil fuels emit highly toxic air pollutants from mining, processing, and transportation even before we consider the poisonous carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide generated from fossil fuel-powered vehicles.

The petroleum industry has known about the harm caused by their products for decades

The greenhouse effect was identified about two hundred years ago. A few years later, scientists began to understand how greenhouse gas emissions warm the Earth by increasing the greenhouse effect. 

About seventy years ago, scientists began to investigate how much the burning of fossil fuels increases the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. In 1959, a prominent scientist warned a conference of oil executives that burning fossil fuels would cause global warming and compared the risk to humanity as similar to nuclear war. In 1965, the US Science Advisory Committee reported that carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels would have a severely detrimental impact on the climate. Since that time, many scientific papers and books have repeated and amplified the warning that continued burning of fossil fuels will severely damage all natural systems on our planet.       

In 1993, Imperial Oil (the Canadian subsidiary of Exxon) produced a report that not only outlined the environment damage caused by oil and gas, but also proposed some solutions. It is likely that other fossil fuel companies elsewhere in the world conducted similar risk assessment studies during the same period.

It is safe to say that, for at least the last thirty years, executives in the petroleum industry have understood that their products are the primary cause of the climate emergency. 

Why has nothing been done to reduce greenhouse gas emissions?

Those of us that have thought about global warming have heard the reasons why the world has allowed greenhouse gas emissions to keep on rising over the last sixty years, and particularly over the last thirty years. We in the developed world are too addicted to our polluting lifestyles. The developing world needs fossil fuels to improve their standard of living. Shifting to greener forms of energy would be too damaging to the economy. Our self-serving human nature makes the collective global action required impossible. All completely false statements. 

There is a much simpler explanation for the lack of action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions: we have been duped by the lies and delaying tactics of the petroleum industry. The petroleum industry realizes that the only way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is to stop burning fossil fuels. They also realize that this would mean an end to their industry in the long term, and reduced profits in the short term — both unacceptable to an industry where profits are the only thing that matters. Profits trump everything.

Ways that the petroleum industry has lied 

Petroleum industry executives have repeatedly lied and deceived the public about the dangers of burning fossil fuels. They have lied about the science being uncertain. They have lied about how the shift to cleaner energy sources would be bad for the economy. They have lied about the climate emergency being something for which we are all equally responsible.

Just think about the power that the petroleum industry wields. Reuters reported that Big Oil more than doubled its profits in 2022 to $219 billion. Similarly, the five biggest oil and gas companies in Canada more than doubled their profits in 2022 to over $38 billion. These companies have massive resources to pay for fake studies and fund industry-friendly ‘think tanks’ as well as feed biased information to journalists. They also pay for lobbyists to remind politicians how important the petroleum industry is to their tax base.

Imperial Oil in 1993

To illustrate, consider how Imperial Oil dealt with the 1993 internal study referred to earlier. As mentioned, the study not only confirmed that burning fossil fuels was the main cause of global warming, it also outlined several solutions including the concept of a carbon tax. Imperial Oil executives at the time responded by issuing a memo that emphasized the uncertainty of the science (there wasn’t any uncertainty) and the damage to the economy (the study actually stated that the only economic negative of shifting to clean energy would be reduced profits for petroleum companies). This completely fraudulent spin on the conclusions of the study is the message Imperial Oil gave to the public, including our political leaders.

Exxon in 1981

For another illustration, let’s go to Exxon in 1981 when a company researcher reported to his superiors that his computer model showed that continuing with business as usual with the burning of fossil fuels would introduce warming that would create climatic changes unprecedented in human history. What Exxon executives told the world was that ‘scientific evidence is inconclusive as to whether human activities are a having a significant effect on the global climate’. The disillusioned Exxon researcher quit. 

The Global Climate Coalition in the 1990s

From 1989 to 2001, the Global Climate Coalition (GCC), a group of petroleum dependent industries, opposed action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and publicly challenged the science behind global warming. The GCC dissolved in 2001 after membership declined in the face of improved understanding of the role of greenhouse gases in climate change. However, the GCC successfully undermined the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse gas emissions when the US did not ratify the agreement. By the way, Canada’s Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper withdrew from the protocol in 2012. Harper had denounced the Kyoto Protocol as a ‘socialist scheme to suck money out of wealth-producing nations’ (Harper is probably my least favourite Canadian Prime Minister).

The lies continue with the Pathways Alliance

The petroleum industry is still lying and deceiving about the starring role fossil fuels have in the climate emergency.

For example, let’s look at the Pathways Alliance. The Pathways Alliance is ‘Canada’s largest oil sands producers working together to address climate change’. Their plan is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from oil sands production largely by using untried and very expensive carbon capture technology. By the way, these massively profitable companies want the Canadian taxpayers to pay for part of the investment in carbon capture infrastructure (they never miss a trick to get more money). 

It is far from certain that the Pathways Alliance will be successful in reaching net zero emissions from oil sands production by 2050. There is a lot of faith involved in believing that these companies are sincere, let alone have any confidence that they can be successful. After all, the petroleum industry has garnered zero goodwill based on their track record over the past century of exploitation and greed.

However, even if the oil sands producers are successful in curbing the emissions from the production side of their business, the oil they produce will still be burned and continue to generate massive amounts of greenhouse gases. The beat goes on! The Pathways Alliance is classic greenwashing from an industry that has proven time and time again that they cannot be trusted.

How do they sleep at night?

It must be clear to everyone, including oil executives, that the oil industry is the main culprit in the degradation of our planet. In this context, I wonder how oil executives can sleep at night? What stories do they tell themselves to justify the lies and misinformation campaigns? How do they look at their children and grandchildren without feeling overwhelming guilt and shame? 

Final thoughts

Local governments are suing fossil fuel industries for the costs associated with damages caused by climate change. Environmental groups are suing fossil fuel industries for making false or misleading representations to the public. Civil suits are fine, but I would also like to see fossil fuel executives and board members charged with criminal fraud for ongoing and deliberate deception intended to result in financial gain.

Do you have any other examples of how the fossil fuel industry has deceived us about the dangers of their products?