["The multinational $4 trillion fossil fuel industry has not only
corrupted citizens understanding of the climate crisis but also
contributed to the erosion of democracy around the world." ]
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BIG OIL STIFLING DEMOCRACY TO KEEP BURNING FOSSIL FUELS  
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Brett Wilkins
December 5, 2023
Common Dreams [[link removed]]

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_ "The multinational $4 trillion fossil fuel industry has not only
corrupted citizens' understanding of the climate crisis but also
contributed to the erosion of democracy around the world." _

Activists protest against fossil fuels at the COP28 U.N. Climate
Summit, Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates., (AP
Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

 

As more people around the world demand an end to the fossil fuel era
in the face of a worsening planetary emergency, Big Oil is
"undermining democratic functions to stem the tide of climate action,"
a report published Tuesday revealed.

"Through a wide array of tactics, the multinational $4 trillion fossil
fuel industry has not only corrupted citizens' understanding of the
climate crisis but also contributed to the erosion of democracy around
the world," the Center for American Progress (CAP) said in a
new analysis
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CAP's Chris Martinez, Laura Kilbury, and Joel Martinez examined "what
these tactics look like in practice and how they work against
democratic systems to stifle climate action."

According to the authors, the three main democracy-destroying tactics
are:

* Polluting democratic societies' information ecosystems with
deception and false climate solutions;
* Using massive financial and lobbying influence over policymakers
to defeat climate action and serve industry interests; and
* Directly undermining democratic rights and freedoms.

The fossil fuel industry is "stifling democratic rights through
lawsuits, anti-protest laws, and voter suppression," the report
states. Meanwhile, Big Oil greenwashes its harmful practices through
direct advertising and via lobby groups like the American Petroleum
Institute, which "regularly publicizes its member companies'
investments in renewable energy and carbon reduction technologies."

"On closer inspection, however, industry's declared efforts to fight
climate change fall woefully short, with oil and gas companies often
devoting more attention to creating the appearance of working on
climate solutions than actually developing them," the analysis
contends.

Big Oil also uses the tactic of "astroturfing," or creating the
appearance of grassroots support for policies and practices that are
beneficial to the industry but harm the climate by perpetuating the
fossil fuel era.

"The oil and gas industry's strategy is clear: Manipulate the levers
of power to obstruct any climate policies that may reduce the world's
reliance on fossil fuels," Martinez, CAP's associate director for
domestic climate, said in a statement
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"If left unchecked, these tactics stifle democratic rights, making
governments more responsive to corporations than their own citizens."

The CAP analysis comes as a record 2,456 fossil fuel lobbyists flood
the floors
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the United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP28, in Dubai,
peddling influence and false climate solutions like so-called
"abated" emissions
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biofuels, and hydrogen
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"In the case of the [United Arab Emirates'] COP28 presidency, the
industry capture of these spaces is complete, with a state-backed
fossil fuel company threatening to interfere with multilateral climate
progress at the highest and most consequential level," the report
states, referring to summit president Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, who is
also the CEO of the UAE's national oil firm—and who has reportedly
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run-up to the conference to pursue new fossil fuel deals.

"As warning lights of democratic backsliding strobe across the world
and endanger critical efforts to address the climate crisis," the
analysis adds, "the twin threat of the fossil fuel industry's attacks
on climate action and the democratic functions necessary to take that
action must not be ignored."

_Brett Wilkins is a staff writer for Common Dreams._

* big oil
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* threat to democracy
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* COP 28
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