Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Oil, gas and coal operations · United States · 1970–2023

Mobil advertorials cast doubt on climate science; media studios later sold oil content

Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
Not on record
  • The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
What the record lacks: 2 insufficient · 1 not measured · 1 unclear See the gaps

Mobil bought New York Times opinion-page advertorials from 1970, and a 2017 study found that most of the analysed advertorials cast doubt on climate science. Later, news outlets' branded-content studios produced campaigns for oil companies, including a roughly 5 million dollar ExxonMobil campaign in 2018.

What?
Mobil bought New York Times opinion-page advertorials, and a 2017 study of Exxon and Mobil texts found that 81% of the advertorials cast doubt on climate science. Environmental Research Letters
Where?
New York Times opinion pages (United States), and branded content for oil firms in the United States and United Kingdom DeSmog
When?
From October 1970; study covers 1977 to 2014; campaign 2018; sponsorship 2022; algae research dropped 2023
Who?
Gained
  • T Brand Studio (New York Times) — ran an ExxonMobil campaign worth about 5 million dollars in 2018 DeSmog
  • ExxonMobil — sponsored more than 300 Washington Post newsletters in 2022
Lost
None on record
Harmed
None on record
Why?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
How?
Advertorials styled as newspaper opinion pieces, and sponsored content designed to read like the outlet's own news. DeSmog
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

DeSmog reported in 2017 that a study of 187 Exxon and Mobil texts from 1977 to 2014 found that 81% of Mobil's advertorials cast doubt on climate change, and 12% accepted the science.

Drilled and DeSmog reported in 2023 that at least seven news organisations' branded-content studios, including Reuters, the Washington Post and the New York Times, produced content for oil companies between October 2020 and October 2023.

DeSmog reported that the New York Times' T Brand Studio ran an ExxonMobil campaign worth about 5 million dollars in 2018, and that its award entry said the ads were designed to read like the newspaper's own news.

DeSmog reported that ExxonMobil dropped, in 2023, the algae-fuel research that the campaign featured.

    In court and with insurers

    Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

    Lawsuits and rulings

    No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.

    Insurers

    No insurer decision on record.

    What we don't know

    Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.

    Nature

    • Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.

    Record

    • Insufficient Reported but not verified: Li, Trencher and Asuka (PLOS ONE, 2022) found that mentions of climate change in BP's annual reports rose from 22 to 326.
    • Insufficient Reported but not verified: DeSmog's 2021 Words vs. Actions study, for Greenpeace Netherlands, classed 63% of more than 3,000 ads from six European energy companies as greenwashing, and 81% at the three worst.
    • Unclear Reported but not verified: Brulle, Aronczyk and Carmichael (2020) put the corporate promotion spending of five oil majors at an average of 217 million dollars a year in 2008 to 2016.

    Did the harm stop?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Who paid?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Sources

    Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society✓ Researchers

    Press and investigations

    Researchers

    1. Supran and Oreskes (2017), Environmental Research Letters
      Environmental Research Letters · 2017-08

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