If we could just capture carbon dioxide, pulling it from the air and safely storing it indefinitely, then this whole climate change problem would be easy enough to solve. That's what fossil fuel companies want you to think so they can keep selling their dirty product.
The latest analysis from the Climate Action Against Disinformation (CAAD) coalition revealed that "fossil fuel companies are investing heavily in ads around CCS [carbon capture and storage] and other false solutions," pushing out sponsored content ranging from ads at the top of Google and YouTube searches to native TikTok content and more.
According to the report, "Google searches for ‘carbon capture and storage’ in the US and UK show paid-for greenwashing from Chevron, ExxonMobil, Saudi Aramco and BP before any reliable or scientific sources.” Furthermore, “Enbridge advertises on Youtube for CCS and Shell features among the top ‘organic’ results presented by the platform."
Meanwhile, "Chevron has spent a potential $1.8m on TikTok ads, many of which push false solutions like CCS, their ‘renewable gasoline blend’ and so-called ‘efficient’ fossil gas extraction. They have garnered 188 million views on just 34 sponsored videos, heavily centering women and people of colour as hosts in their content. In one video promoting CCS, Chevron even includes the hashtag ‘#edutok’ – a term initially linked to a formal program and in-app challenge to ‘democratise e-learning’ across various topics.”
Another CAAD deep-dive then gets into the details of how "COP28 has more fossil fuel lobbyists than any in history," with "at least 475 of them… working for the carbon capture and storage (CCS) industry.” “But what are they trying to achieve?” CAAD asks. “Turns out, instead of viewing CCS as a last resort strategy for ‘hard-to-abate sectors’, some groups approach it as a lifeline to justify continued expansion of fossil fuels."
CAAD found three main narratives that CCS lobbyists are pushing:
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“Mission Implausible: Framing CCS as some combination of safe, proven, reliable, scalable and/or inevitable. In reality, CCS is a risky process that consistently fails to deliver or meet expectations.
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Show us the money: Admitting that projects are slow moving and expensive, but seemingly to pitch for further government subsidies and accelerated permitting processes.
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All together now: Encouraging alliances, including with governments, to ‘build public support’ for the technology.”
To sum it all up in a sentence, the fossil fuel industry’s CCS argument is that the technology is safe, reliable, and inevitable, IF the government gives the industry a ton of money and helps it spread propaganda to persuade the public to approve of its risky lifeline to keep profiting off pollution.