Big Oil comes a-knocking

Oil and gas companies talk a big game when it comes to tackling climate change, from making net-zero promises to selling natural gas as a “clean” energy source to investing in solar and wind projects to power their fossil fuel operations. But efforts to influence government policy tell a different story.

To be fair, we can’t know exactly what these companies and government representatives discuss. But given the $2.6 billion some of the industry’s biggest players have seen in subsidies over the past 11 years, it’s safe to assume the eventual wind-down of the industry driving the climate crisis — the very thing scientists say must happen to reach the world’s collective climate goals — is probably not on the agenda.

An investigation by Canada’s National Observer and the newly launched Investigative Journalism Foundation revealed this week just how much money some of the country’s top oil and gas companies have raked in over the past decade — and how often lobbyists for these firms communicate with politicians and top bureaucrats on Parliament Hill to seek influence over government decision-making.

As “one of Canada’s most lucrative economic drivers,” the oil and gas industry is “in a position of great power and influence,” Adrienne Tanner, our managing editor, tells me. “We wanted to find out how these companies develop relationships with politicians and government officials, and to what end.”

What the team uncovered was “an astounding level of access and funding resulting from (lobbyists’) efforts,” Adrienne explains. “The amount of government subsidies from the federal and provincial governments are on the rise at a time when oil and gas companies are making record profits” — and scientists are saying we must wind down the industry to keep global heating in check.

To dig into Big Oil’s influence on Parliament Hill, the investigation team sifted through more than a decade’s worth of data from the federal lobbying registry, poring over meeting records and the amount of government funding reported by each company.

Even though collecting the information was tedious, it ultimately “proved rewarding because it gave us insight into the nature of lobbyist registries, their limitations, what suggestions can be made to improve them and how future investigations can be done,” says IJF journalist Xavier Richer Vis.

The investigation showed not just how much lobbying the industry has done over time, but how those efforts ramped up when the pandemic hit. In 2020, as COVID-19 upended all our lives, oil prices initially plummeted and oil and gas companies — like many in other industries — struggled to pay their workers. Facing an uncertain future, Canada’s biggest oil and gas lobby met with government officials nearly twice a day on average for every working day of that year.

We don’t know exactly what happened at these meetings or what was discussed beyond broad-strokes topics like “climate,” “infrastructure” and “science and technology,” but with Ottawa ratcheting up its climate plans and the world transitioning away from polluting sources of energy (on top of the chaos brought on by the pandemic), fossil fuel companies stand to lose business. And so, they’ve made their opinions known on everything from Ottawa’s promised greenhouse gas emissions cap for the industry to a tax credit unveiled last year that would give oil and gas companies a break on investments in carbon capture technology. And it seems Ottawa is listening.

“Even when the pandemic subsided, governments have continued to subsidize the industry, particularly to develop new carbon capture and storage technology that will enable the industry to lower emissions during the production process,” Adrienne explains.

“The government is banking on carbon capture as a key plank in Canada’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. So it’s likely this funding trend will continue as the industry works to build out viable technology.” She notes, however, that there are very few large-scale carbon capture projects in operation in Canada right now.

For Adrienne, the bottom line of the investigation is this: both oil and gas companies and Canadian governments are going to great lengths to protect the industry’s future, even as it poses serious threats to the planet’s future.

“Although it’s true that oil and gas companies are working to lower emissions, they are not talking about scaling back production. Neither is our government,” she says. “The lobbying has very effectively staved off any talk of reducing the amount of fossil fuels we pump out of the ground. And given that the vast amount of greenhouse gas emissions occur when oil is burned, not produced, this industry continues to contribute to the climate crisis.

“Although there is no doubt that we still need oil and gas today, it will be a sunset industry sooner than we might think. So it’s important to question the influence these companies have on our governments and climate policy.”

Join CBC/Radio-Canada president Catherine Tait and guest panellists, including our publisher Linda Solomon Wood, for a conversation about building trust and protecting our democracy. This important discussion will touch on journalism and reporting, building relationships with the audience, online safety and public policy.

CBC/Radio-Canada and partners University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University invite interested members of the public to join them for a light lunch, followed by the panel discussion and a brief question and answer period.

Moderated by:

Anita Bathe, CBC Vancouver News at 6 p.m.

Panellists:

• Catherine Tait, president and CEO, CBC/Radio-Canada
• Jeanette Ageson, publisher, The Tyee
• Jeremy Kinsman, distinguished fellow, The Canadian International Council
• Linda Solomon Wood, publisher, Canada's National Observer
• Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, Canada 150 Research Chair and professor, Simon Fraser University

Tue, Jan. 17, 2023, 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. PST

Sign up for tickets on Eventbrite.

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