Exposing big oil’s real agenda on climate change

Debunking the messaging tactics and lobbying strategies of the fossil fuel value chain
Organisation
InfluenceMap
Grant
DKK 2,753,025
Programme Area
Sustainable Finance
Year
2020-2022

Corporations and lobbyists representing the fossil fuel industry often block the introduction of climate policies aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement. There is an urgent need to ensure that the industry’s climate-skeptical messaging strategies are systematically uncovered and brought to light and their influence minimised.

This is what InfluenceMap set out to do with their influential report ‘Big Oil's Real Agenda on Climate’ from 2019. Dating back to the signing of the Paris Agreement, this exposed the anti- climate tactics used by the oil majors to present their companies as part of the solution while lobbying (spending USD 200 million a year) against meaningful regulations and continuing with business-as-usual practices on oil and gas extraction. The tactics from the oil and gas sector are constantly evolving, with no evidence to suggest that the strategic intent behind them has changed. In response, InfluenceMap is going to update and expand its analysis moving into 2021 and publish an updated version of their report.

Social media is a key battleground for the climate narrative and InfluenceMap is developing a platform to identify the digital strategies of the fossil fuel sector. Content from this work will help stakeholders, the public and decision-makers readily expose, and thereby diminish the power of, fossil fuel misinformation, greenwashing and lobbying on social media.

InfluenceMap
InfluenceMap is an independent think tank that provides data and analyses on how business and finance are affecting the climate crisis. InfluenceMap's theory of change is based on the power of data-driven research that enables stakeholders in finance, corporates, campaign NGOs and the media to act. Among their partners are: 300 leading financial institutions representing close to USD 40 trillion in assets under management (the Climate Action 100+ March 2020 process); the We Mean Business partners (large climate-focused NGOs with corporate networks) and increasingly campaign groups like the Sunrise Project and FridaysForFuture. Their work is used extensively by influential actors in finance, business, campaigns, policymaking and the media to drive meaningful change. InfluenceMap is philanthropically funded and based in London, with offices in Tokyo and New York.
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The FinanceMap platform

Part of this grant will go to the expansion of InfluenceMap’s online platform FinanceMap, which provides climate-focused analyses of funds and asset managers. The aim is to expand the platform's current coverage to include bond, debt and primary market data in FinanceMap with an initial focus on 300 fossil fuel producers.