Why, Yes, They Do Lie About Climate Change

One of those little guides to when people are lying like bastards

This is bullshit. Lyin’ bullshit:

Just 32 fossil fuel companies were responsible for half the global carbon dioxide emissions driving the climate crisis in 2024, down from 36 a year earlier, a report has revealed.

The report has revealed no such thing because the concept being advanced is incorrect. Politically convenient, sure, but still incorrect. That report:

The Carbon Majors database traces 34.7 GtCO2e of greenhouse gas emissions in 2024 to the 166 oil, gas, coal, and cement producers, a 0.8% increase from these entities’ total emissions in 2023. Just 32 companies were linked to over half of global fossil fuel and cement CO2 emissions in 2024.

That, as it stands, is fair enough. This is where it becomes lyin’ bullshit:

As shown in Figure 1, the top 10 companies by emissions, cumulatively responsible for 27.6% of global fossil CO2 emissions in 2024, were all fully or majority state-owned companies.

That bullshit, that lyin’, is the word “responsible”.

Now, leave aside whatever views we might have about climate change itself. It is happening, it isn’t, it doesn’t matter much if it does, it always does, we should or should not do anything about it. Just park all of those over to one side for a moment.

Are fossil fuel firms responsible for the emissions from their products_ In the technical sense used here, Scope 3 emissions (Scope 1 is what your suppliers emit, Scope 2 is what you and your processes do, Scope 3 is what your customers do). Are you responsible for their emissions?

No, they’re not. The people who use the fossil fuels are responsible for their emissions from their use of fossil fuels. I drive to the shops then I’m responsible for that decision to drive to the shops. The diesel I use in doing so is my responsibility, my emissions. The same is true of using methane (natural gas) to cook lunch with, of whatever energy mix it is that heats the house.

If no one wanted to have hot food, a toasty house, or to be able to travel, then there would be fewer emissions. Also, if no one wanted those things there would be no fossil fuel companies extracting the fossil fuels with which we do those things. The fossil fuel companies exist because our demand for a toasty crib and hot food has called them into existence.

We are responsible for emissions, we consumers. For it is our consumption that creates the emissions.

And, of course, yes this is important. For by framing the problem as being that of the capitalist bastards it’s then possible to think that if we just eliminated the capitalist bastards then we would have solved the problem. Which does rather obscure the point that if the capitalist bastards did not sate our desires then we’d be nibbling our frozen turnips by moonlight in our winter shack.

That is, the placing of the responsibility upon the fossil fuel firms removes it from ourselves. Which is the lyin’ bastardry going on here. In order to beat climate change it is us that has to change our ways.

That’s also the reason why this lyin’ bastardry is attempted. Because when presented with the actual choice - either Greenland melts and the mangrove swamps flood or you get no hot food nor crib - the actual people, us out here, are going to say bugger Greenland and the swamps.

Which is why people lie about it.