Have you seen oil company misleading advertising lately? If you did, what would you find – greenwashing. By greenwashing they look environmentally conscious for marketing purposes. n reality they are not making any notable sustainability efforts.

What they are really doing by this misleading advertising is to try to sway public opinion that they really care. According to iea.org, they spend 99% of their investing in fossil fuels and 1% into renewable energy sources.

I will list the many ways oil companies are using to sway public opinion. In much of their advertising they are now using “front groups” to help their cause. Firstly, these organizations try to mimic grassroots efforts. However most of the funding is by the large corporations. and do the corporation’s bidding by acting like activist. Secondly, they use groups, social media like Facebook, the press, advertising, and other methods to promote competing narratives into public discussion. Thirdly, these front groups use disingenuous campaigns to try to convince the public that oil companies are good and anyone who believes otherwise is bad.

What can we do? We need to convince legislatures that companies need to be held accountable for their practices and help create new legislation that can promote greener sources of energy. Remember it is all about profits. New energy sources are better for the environment. Greenwashing will continue. They do not want to kill their cash cow.