Oil Companies Know Carbon Capture Is Not a Climate Solution, Documents Show

"The fossil fuel industry’s carbon capture bamboozle, explained."

"This spring, Democrats wrapped up a nearly three-year investigation into the fossil fuel industry’s role in climate disinformation, and asked the Department of Justice to pick up where they left off. In House and Senate Democrats’ final report and hearing, investigators concluded that major oil companies had not only misled the public on climate change for decades, but also were continuing to misinform them about the industry’s preferred climate “solutions”— particularly biofuels and carbon capture.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), who spearheaded the investigation, also accused oil companies of “obstructing”  it, submitting few documents, and redacting much of what they did send. One ExxonMobil employee who spoke with Drilled and Vox under condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation described what the company sent as “a truly random assortment of unimportant documents.”

But there was at least one notable exception: a report detailing the company’s projections for the future of carbon capture technology."

Amy Westervelt reports for Drilled July 29, 2024. This story was published in partnership with Vox and was supported by the Pulitzer Center.

Source: Drilled, 07/30/2024