Sludge’s Donald Shaw calls Chevron’s report on lobbying expenditures in response to majority vote on a shareholder proposal greenwashing..

Earlier this week, Chevron quietly released its climate lobbying report. In it, the company lists its affiliations with many of the largest fossil fuel industry lobbying groups in the world and then tries to spin each one as anenvironmental champion that works in good faith to advance sound climate policies.

The report says that the company does not always agree with all its trade groups’ positions, but it does not reckon with any of those disagreements, let alone propose any actions.  

The shareholder resolution called on the company to assess how its trade group activities align with its stated support for the Paris Agreement and explain steps it takes when there are misalignments, but there is no such self-reflection anywhere in the 12-page document.

Given that oil companies like BP and Total have recently withdrawn from trade groups because they determined their climate policies were not strong enough, Chevron’s report is viewed by activists as totally insufficient. “Chevron is thumbing its nose at its own shareholders, who voted for corporate climate lobbying disclosure,” said Kathy Mulvey, accountability campaign director in the Climate and Energy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. “Chevron’s new report is worse than a box-ticking exercise, it’s greenwashing.”

Chevron’s Climate Lobbying Report is a Joke – The Brick House Cooperative