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Big Oil Reality Check: Oil and Gas Companies Failing on Climate

Oil Change International released our Big Oil Reality Check report today in collaboration with over 200 organizations worldwide. The report assesses the climate pledges and plans of eight international oil and gas companies – Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell, TotalEnergies, BP, Eni, Equinor, and ConocoPhillips – against 10 criteria representing the bare minimum for aligning with the Paris Agreement to limit global heating below 1.5°C. Key Findings – The Big Oil Reality Check report finds that:

  • These oil majors fail to align with international agreements to phase out fossil fuels and to limit global temperature rise to 1.5ºC.
  • Every company is “Grossly Insufficient” or “Insufficient” on a majority of criteria.
  • Three companies (Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and ExxonMobil) are “Grossly Insufficient” – our lowest rating – on all criteria.
  • Combined, these 8 companies’ current oil and gas extraction plans are consistent with more than 2.4°C of global temperature rise,(1) likely leading to global devastation.
  • These 8 companies alone are on track to use 30% of our remaining carbon budget to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C.
  • Ambition: Of the 8 analyzed companies, 6 have explicit goals to increase oil and gas production. Even those without such plans are advancing new fossil fuel projects and selling polluting assets rather than shutting them down, masking their actions as contributing to an energy transition while perpetuating climate pollution.
  • Integrity: None of the companies we analyzed have set comprehensive targets to ensure their total emissions decline rapidly and consistently, starting now. Every company intends to rely on carbon capture and storage (CCS), offsets, and/or other methods that delay and distract from ending fossil fuels, and prolong the health and community safety impacts of dirty energy.
  • People-Centered Transitions: All companies fail to meet basic criteria for just transition plans for workers and communities where they operate. All companies fail to meet basic criteria on upholding human rights.

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