Twelve of Europe’s leading fossil fuel companies are misleading the public about their net zero pledges, using greenwashing jargon, publishing misleading diagrams of their activities and reporting only partial data, according to analysis commissioned by Greenpeace Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).
The leading oil companies are also using greenwashing jargon, publishing misleading diagrams of their activities and reporting partial data, the report said.
In the report, titled ‘The Dirty Dozen: The Climate Greenwashing of 12 European Oil Companies’, the environmental campaign group analysed the 2022 annual reports of six global fossil fuel majors and six European oil and gas companies.
According to the report, 0.3% of the 12 companies’ combined energy production came from renewable power that year.
“As the world endures unprecedented heat waves, deadly floods and escalating storms, Big Oil … continues to fuel the climate crisis,” Greenpeace CEE finance campaigner Kuba Gogolewski said in a statement by the organisation on 23 August.
“Governments need to stop enabling fossil fuel companies, heavily regulate them, and plan our fossil fuel phase-out now.”
This regulation should include compulsory investment in genuinely green infrastructure and governments should agree on a detailed roadmap to phase out oil and gas across Europe, the report said.
According to the report, only 7.3% (€6.57bn/US$7bn) of the 12 companies’ 2022 investments went towards green energy with the remaining 92.7% (€81.52bn/US$87.2bn) funding fossil business or – in some cases – its expansion.
Greenpeace is calling for strict regulation of fossil fuel companies to prevent further fossil-fuelled climate destruction, and a clearly set out, binding roadmap to phase out oil and gas across Europe.
According to the report, BP, Equinor, Wintershall and TotalEnergies reduced their investments in low carbon or renewable products in 2022, compared to the previous year.
Although the majority of the 12 companies analysed had publicly committed to reaching ‘net zero’ by 2050, none had developed a coherent strategy to achieve this target, according to Greenpeace.
The vast majority are planning to maintain or even increase their oil and gas production until at least 2030, according to the report.
“Greenpeace is calling for European governments to strictly regulate the industry and begin its rapid economic and political downsizing,” Gogolewski added.
This regulation should include compulsory investment in genuinely green infrastructure and governments should agree on a detailed roadmap to phase out oil and gas across Europe, the report said.
The report included analysis of leading oil companies: Shell; TotalEnergies; BP; Equinor; Eni and Repsol. It also included analysis of six European oil and gas companies: OMV; PKN Orlen; MOL; Wintershall DEA; Petrol Group and Ina Croatia.
