Big Oil has moved on from ‘greenwashing.’ Here’s the new playbook.
Why it matters: It reshapes policy, investment, and public opposition to fossil‑fuel expansion.
- Clean Creatives analyzed 1,800 ads, press releases, and social posts from BP, Shell, Exxon, and Chevron, finding a rapid retreat from green‑coded language after 2020.
- BP, Shell, Exxon, Chevron now foreground national‑security and economic‑resilience arguments, positioning fossil fuels as indispensable for “energy security.”
- Nayantara Dutta of Clean Creatives says the firms aren’t trying to look like the good guys anymore; they’ve abandoned the sustainability façade.
- Robert Brulle highlights that oil majors hire top PR agencies to manufacture a “social license to operate,” easing public and legal resistance to new pipelines and gas projects.
- Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine acted as a catalyst, prompting the narrative pivot before even any political change in the U.S.
Big Oil has dropped its green‑washing act, now framing fossil fuels as essential for energy security after the Ukraine war. A new Clean Creatives analysis of 1,800 ads shows the shift, while PR firms craft a “social license” to smooth gas expansion.
