Are the major oil companies putting their best foot forward on global climate change & the environment?
Climate change is a serious global concern of both the public and the governments. With the increase in greenhouse gases (GHGs), mainly carbon dioxide (CO2), and methane in the earth's atmosphere. There is a widespread view that this increase is leading to climate change, with adverse effects on the environment.
According to the IPCC official report website (2007):
“Warming of the climate system was “unequivocal” as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice and rising global average sea levels.”
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Alice Tepper . Marlin, President, Council on Economic Priorities
If we are the leading corporate citizen-we will attract better employees and the highest caliber of people. They are going to want to come work for a company like Ford..
William Clay Ford, Jr. Ford Motor Company
The 21st Century company will be different. Many of Britain.s best-known companies are recognizing that every customer is the port of the Community and that social responsibility is not an optional extra.
Tony Blair, Prime Minister of United Kingdom
What must oil companies do and why? 250
Oil companies’ efforts to increase production of fossil fuels to meet the world’s energy needs are a mass contributor to the increases in greenhouse gases (GHGs), mainly carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane in the earth atmosphere.
All the main competitors in the oil industry address that they understand the widespread views that the increases of fossil fuel production are leading to climate change with adverse effects to the environment.
BP addresses on their website that information on the IPCC assessment report was reviewed and reported on by Ernst & Young as part of BP's 2007 sustainability reporting. This indicates they have a clear understanding of the situation and procedures to targets were in place to help REDUCe EMISSIONS AND IMPROVe EFFICENCY, while also participating in research programs to invent and inspuire towards greener production
The U.S obtains more than 84% of its energy from fossil fuels including oil, coal and natural gas. This is because people rely on it to heat their homes, power industries, run vehicles, manufacturing, and provision of electricity. It is apparent that the country’s transportation industry highly depends on conventional petroleum oil, which is responsible for global warming, thus threatening economic opulence and national security. Apart from that, increasing consumption of fossil fuels have elevated health problems in the state, destroyed wild places, and polluted the environment. After conducting Environmental Impact Assessment, projections showed that the world energy consumption would increase by more than 56% between 2010 and 2040. However, fossil fuels will cater for more than 80% of the total energy used in 2040. Sadly, it will be a trajectory to alter the world’s climate, as well as, weaken the global security environment. Importantly, the rate at which the US relies on fossil fuels needs to reduce since it has adverse effects on the planet’s supplies. The society needs to realize that fossil fuels are nonrenewable, thus taking millions of years to form (Huebner, 2003). Notably, the country can reduce dependency on fossil fuels by practicing energy conservation and efficiency,
All forms of personal transportation account for “30 % of all U.S Global warming.” The oil will soon be “harder to extract”, which will end up creating more and more dirty emissions as well as harm the economy. Creating “Fuel efficient vehicles, Electric cars, and cleaner fuels” will help contribute to a solution for global warming problems but not permanently (UoCS Web). Big business have given an “up close” view of The damage caused through business practice. Because of this, big business have found time to adopt “environmental safeguards” to cover up environmental damage through “national parks." Siding with big business, “Some of the most powerful forces,” is one of the best ways of solving environmental problems (Diamond 16). Big business has large amounts of money that could be invested in new forms of cars that could be completely electric or have clean
Climate Change- Climate is a long term change in the Earth's weather, especially due to an increase in the average atmospheric temperature. According to research, it was discovered that the Earth's temperature rose by 0.6 degrees Celsius (C) and predicted that the sea surface temperature may rise by up to 1 degrees C over the next 50 years. Unfortunately, carbon dioxide and methane gas levels are the highest they have ever been for the last 420000 years. These two gases with water vapour, nitrous oxide and halocarbons create the five predominate greenhouse gases, effecting the environment greatly. Furthermore, it is evident that an average person release 4 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. Due to this fact, carbon dioxide
One of the biggest political and legal issues that affect the oil and gas industry is the cause of changing of present climates as there are a lot of harmful petroleum products that can cause damage to the environment such as carbon dioxide cause greenhouse gas, sulfur dioxide cause acid rain which could eventually be harmful to animal, planet and worsen illness and heart diseases… Another issue
This year we have seen more electric and hybrid vehicle startups than ever before.” (Morrison) Nearly everyone recognizes the benefits of the shift, both in terms of how it would help our environment in the long term, but also the economic impact it would have, (reduced gas costs, lower electric and other utilities bills... etc.) But still, many large companies work to impede the progress in favor of maintaining our dependence on fossil fuels. The American Petroleum institute has worked with many oil industry protection companies to stymie the renewable energy movement, even in some cases, “posing as environmentalist groups in order to attract the support of environmentalists while simultaneously pushing their anti-renewable agenda.” (Blankenhorn) Many of these companies striving against renewable energy also support the building of the Keystone pipeline, using the justification that the building of the pipeline would lower gas prices. But what they fail to acknowledge is the basic economic fallacy of this, “Fossil energy prices are not going to fall. The more you remove carbon-based resources from the ground, the more it costs to get more.”
Diverse and multi-faceted, the Canadian business market is one of the strongest functioning mixed market economies in the world. Within the Canadian economy, the oil and gas sector stands as one of the largest and most influential sectors. The oil and gas industry is unique as it affects almost every person and sector of the economy worldwide, whether it is through commodity or material input costs. In Canada, this growing industry could allow for the country to be the one of the “biggest energy producers in the world” leading to a massive paradigm shift globally.
Climate change is evident throughout the world and is a major issue. It is no secret that our planet is getting warmer. Global warming is now recognized in the scientific community as a real problem. There are multiple aspects that are causing this issue. Majority of the warming is caused by greenhouse gases. Volcanic eruptions and changes in the intensity of solar radiation have offset the warming partially. It is estimated that average annual temperatures will increase 3.5°F-9.5°F by the century’s end.
Fossil fuels are a major contributor to global warming. The use of oil, gas and coal is the enormous to fuel our transportation, warm our houses, and run our businesses. To begin with, oil is found in almost every area of our lifes. From the beginning of when we find oil to when we throw an oil product away we are adding to global warming. When they find oil, they get it out of the ground. When they get it out of the ground, they pollute the environment by using machinery. The machinery pollutes the air because the carbon monoxide is given off from the machines goes into our atmosphere. If they are “mining” the oil then large amounts of the land is destroyed and will take man, many years to grow again. Again the machinery that is used to strip the oil from the land pollutes the air with its carbon monoxide. The process that is used to take the oil out of the sand also pollutes the air. In addition to that, any of the products that are made from oil result in pollution in the way of factories putting smoke into the air.
Meanwhile, leading officials and shareholders have been attempting to push against Exxon’s misleading statements, and two Harvard researchers have recently proven that Exxon was deliberately attempting to deceive the public with the wording of their advertising and public statements. They say that while Exxon Mobil has attempted to frame itself in a positive light by contributing to climate change research, they are ultimately causing the worst kind of damage by continuing to publicly promote unscientific thinking which could negatively sway future policy making in the United States and other countries. The beliefs held by the people working against Exxon Mobil are essentially environmentalist, if more about wise use than deep ecology- they believe that the public, in particular shareholders, have a right to know about the ethics of what they might be investing in so they might choose more environmentally sound options when it’s logical and beneficial both for themselves and the
After many years of conducting their its own research, Exxon’s Research & Engineering Division concluded that fossil fuel use does contribute to climate change. In the late 1970’s Exxon’s Research & Engineering Division launched their own climate research program in order to better understand fossil
The burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil, and deforestation over the last 200 years has caused the concentrations of heat-trapping "greenhouse gases" to increase significantly in our atmosphere. These gases prevent heat from escaping to space. Greenhouse gases are necessary in our lives as they help in keeping the planet 's surface warmer than it would otherwise be. But, as the concentrations of these gases continue to increase in the atmosphere, the Earth 's temperature is climbing above past levels (USEPA, 2014).
Climate change is influenced by the greenhouse effect which is the increase of Carbon dioxide, Methane, Ozone and Nitrogen Oxide. On one hand, the presence of these gases in the atmosphere make the earth habitable with respect to regulating the earth’s temperature. However, an increase in the concentration of these gases results in trapping energy in the atmosphere and this in turn increases earth’s temperature. “Global greenhouse gas emissions have grown since pre-industrial times, with an increase of 70% between
The company was on the right track, far as it trying to change the reputation of the company. The first step BP took to repair the image of the company was to repair the image. And by doing that, they their name from British Petroleum to simply BP. The next step was for BP to launch its Alternative Energy business in 2005. BP also seen fit for the company to continue “going green” efforts. This is in efforts for it to become more profitable. Their next step in restoring their reputation was to establish a code of conduct. The company code entitled “Our Commitment to Integrity”. BP seeks to unite its diverse employees. This code of conduct was the largest mass communications exercise ever attempted at BP.
The global span of ExxonMobil makes the importance of ethical behaviour paramount; however, this has not always been the case. Investigations (Banerjee 2015 & Various 2015) have revealed that ExxonMobil discovered the link between human activity and climate change years before it became a public issue. Instead of adapting its business model
Human existence and activities have proved to contribute immensely to the warming. When oil was first becoming a major world energy resource, greedy capitalists actively pursued any and all measures to profit from it. The expansion of embryonic corporations became the single most superior motive, forgetting completely about the care of the planet. All aspects of oil production, including the: extraction, refining and transportation generated considerable amounts of environmental pollution. Oil spills from international transportation became a major concern and in 1990