Green Groups File 'First-of-Its-Kind' FTC Complaint Against Chevron for Climate Lies

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By Kenny Stancil, Common Dreams.

Three environmental justice and corporate accountability groups filed a โ€œfirst-of-its-kindโ€ complaint with the Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday accusing oil giant Chevron of deceiving the public by overstating its investment in renewable energy sources and commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions while continuing to extract fossil fuels that put vulnerable communities in harm’sย way.

โ€œChevron is trying to appeal to consumers that care about the climate, the planet, and racial justiceโ€”while doubling down on climate-wrecking fossil fuels that pollute our communities and destabilize the global climate, as our complaint shows,โ€ Julieta Biegner, U.S. communications and campaign officer at Global Witness,ย said in aย statement.

Urging the FTC to โ€œtake swift action and show big polluters they cannot get away with ‘greenwashing,’โ€ Biegner added thatย โ€œthis practice cannot go unchecked, and is in fact what the FTC‘s Green Guides were designed to do: prevent companies from misleading consumers with egregious claims about the environmental impacts of theirย products.โ€

In 1992, the FTCโ€”which is tasked with โ€œprotecting consumers and competition by preventing anticompetitive, deceptive, and unfair business practicesโ€โ€”established a set of principles called the โ€œGreen Guidesโ€ to shield consumers from the growing trend of misleading environmental claims, commonly referred to asย โ€œgreenwashing.โ€

If the FTC takes action on the newly submitted complaint, it would be the first use of the Green Guides against a fossil fuel corporation for lying to consumers about the climate impacts of its businessย practices.

The complaint was jointly filed by: Earthworks, a national environmental organization with more than a decade of experience documenting the oil and gas industry’s methane pollution across the world; Global Witness, an international watchdog organization that investigates and challenges those who harm people and the planet; and Greenpeace USA, an organization that uses peaceful protest and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and promoteย solutions.

Highlighting the glaring gap between Chevron’s climate-friendly rhetoric and its devastating real-world impact, Josh Eisenfeld, corporate accountability campaigner at Earthworks, said that โ€œthe world’s second biggest polluter shouldn’t advertise that they’re good for theย environment.โ€

โ€œOur fieldwork shows Chevron is regularly polluting methaneโ€”a greenhouse gas 86 times more potent than carbon dioxide,โ€ Eisenfeld added. โ€œChevron’s plan to convince the public and investors that they’re fixing this problem, when they’re not, is dishonest andย dangerous.โ€

According to the three groups behind the complaint, Chevron โ€œhas contributed more than 43.35 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in greenhouse gases since 1965 and currently has no plan to reduce its overallย emissions.โ€

โ€œBetween 2010-2018,โ€ the groups continued, โ€œChevron spent only 0.2% of its capital expendituresโ€”roughly $26 million a year of its $13 billion average annual capital expenditureโ€”on low-carbon energyย sources.โ€

And yet, โ€œdespite its minimal investment in low-carbon energy, Chevron spends millions of dollars in advertising and marketing campaigns to win over consumers with false and misleading claims about the environmental impacts of itsย product.โ€

The complaint accuses Chevron of several direct violations of the FTC‘s Green Guides, including paid social media promotions, television advertisements, and other digital adsย that:

Last week, Chevron released a new โ€œClimate Change Resilienceโ€ reportย (pdf) that the groups say โ€œdoubled down on many of the same greenwashing tactics the company has relied on to mislead consumers forย years.โ€

Despite Chevron’s claim that it is โ€œadvancing a lower-carbon future,โ€ the groups say the fossil fuelย behemoth:

  • Makes no new commitments to reduce its overall greenhouse gasย emissions;
  • Makes no commitments to comprehensively reduce pollution and toxic hazards for communities living near itsย facilities;ย 
  • Pledges only negligible investment in efforts to reduce its carbonย footprint;
  • Doubles down on unproven technologies like carbon capture;ย and
  • Plans to increase its total oil and gas production, based on expansion in the Permian Basin in theย U.S.ย 

In accordance with FTC rules, the groups have requested the removal of Chevron’s misleading marketing claims, the dissemination of corrective statements, and the assessment of appropriate relief according to theย law.

Emphasizing how fossil fuel companies’ disinformation tactics have evolved,ย Anusha Narayanan, climate campaign manager at Greenpeace USA, said that โ€œfor the oil and gas industry, delay and distraction are the newย denial.โ€

โ€œChevron spent decades sowing doubt about the science of climate change,โ€ Narayanan continued. โ€œNow in the face of widespread public support for climate action, the company is misrepresenting its role in the climate crisis and deceptively casting itself as anย ally.โ€

โ€œClimate denial is not a victimless crime,โ€ Narayanan added, โ€œand it’s time for Chevron to be heldย accountable.โ€

This article originally appeared on Common Dreams. It’s shared here under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0ย License.

Main image: Chevron sign. Credit: Scott 97006 / Flickr (CC BYย 2.0)

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