I’ve talked a lot about the manipulative tactics of the oil & gas industry on my TikTok channel for a while. We’ve observed how trolls seem to swarm content creators when they talk about a topic like racism or climate change—leaving rage comments or baiting others into arguments. Often times videos would get removed with a “Community guidelines violation”. We watched what appeared to be coordinated mass reports of indigenous accounts during stop line three in 2021. While at the time I had limited resources to investigate the sources of this. I was able to find out that many online tools exist to mass-report accounts.
Today I would like to bring up astroturfing. An outrageously effective marketing tactic being used by oil & gas PR companies (perfected by Big Tobacco). The video below explains this brilliantly.
John Oliver did a great segment on how the tactic gets used in other topics.
Fossil Fuel speaker on PMAC2023 panel gets held accountable
Tensions were high in the conference room during a session at PMAC2023 in Thailand. Where a representative from the oil and gas industry was present to speak. Watch below:
Celebrities in the UK and Investors in the US & Canada take action
Celebrities call on UK banks to stop financing new oil, gas and coalfields
Famous names including Stephen Fry, Emma Thompson and Mark Rylance have joined activists and businesses in calling on the UK’s big five banks to stop financing new oil, gas and coal expansion.
Make My Money Matter, a campaign set up by Richard Curtis, the screenwriter, director and Comic Relief co-founder, has written to the chief executives of HSBC, Barclays, Santander, NatWest and Lloyds to urge these banks to “stop financing fossil fuel expansion”.
Curtis said they wanted to raise public awareness of “the dangerous relationship between UK banks and the fossil fuel industry”.
Members of the public are being invited to join forces with celebrities, politicians, campaigners and business leaders by signing the open letter.
The call comes days after research indicated that banks and finance institutions that had signed up to net-zero pledges were still investing heavily in fossil fuels.
Investors file climate shareholder resolutions at major US and Canadian banks
Stop the Money Pipeline coalition members respond to investors filing climate shareholder resolutions at major US and Canadian banks
Resolutions call for top banks and insurance companies to make significant progress on their climate commitments; will require support from major asset managers and other investors
Indigenous land of Lenape Peoples (so-called New York, NY) – Today, several institutional investors — including the New York City Comptroller, As You Sow (AYS), Sierra Club Foundation (SCF), Trillium Asset Management, and Harrington Investments — announced the filing of climate-related shareholder resolutions at major fossil fuel financing banks in the US and Canada, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley.
The resolutions call on the banks to:
Adopt policies to phase out financing of new fossil fuel exploration and development (filed by Sierra Club Foundation, Trillium Asset Management, and Harrington Investments at JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley);
Disclose robust transition plans on how the banks intend to align financing activities with their near-term emissions reduction targets (filed by As You Sow at JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley);
Set 2030 absolute emissions reduction targets for energy sector financing (filed by the New York City Comptroller at JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America (co-filed with the New York State Comptroller), Goldman Sachs, and the Royal Bank of Canada).
The political and social landscape is quickly shifting for the oil & gas industry. Their social agency slips further with every move they make to try to save face. The call for fossil fuel industry accountability is echoing around the world from all directions and growing louder by the day.
Remember to divest your assets from fossil fuels, amplify indigenous voices, and take climate action.