It is a distorted narrative, that of the oil world and the major oil lobbies. Despite their public statements and the commitments made following the Paris Agreement, the five sisters continue to pour vast sums of money into diverting, weakening or even halting the advance of climate policies. This is revealed by the recent InfluenceMap report, which shows how ExxonMobil, Chevron, Bp, Shell and Total have invested just under one billion euros over three years to lobby politics, the industrial sector and public opinion against climate policies.

"The InfluenceMap study is an important contribution to a serious discussion that should be taking place now," explains Jan Erik Saugestad, chief executive of Storebrand Asset Management (the Norwegian financial institution that manages the investments of the Norwegian oil fund). "Strikingly, these five oil majors plan to allocate a mere 3 per cent of their 2019 spending towards low-emission technologies, while investing $110.4 billion in more oil and gas." The research indeed shows that investments in decarbonisation amounted to just $3.6 billion, against $110 billion in oil and gas, an increase on previous years.

Oil lobbies don't want to stop the fossil fuel business

This becomes clear when you look at where the money is being invested. The narrative has even shifted in recent years, focusing on the claim that today's society needs more oil exploration and greater crude production to meet rising demand. Never mind that in 2015, immediately after the signing of the Paris Agreement, the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (Ogci) was established — an organisation that counts the world's largest oil companies among its members — including those cited in the report — and whose stated objective is to limit the average global temperature increase to 2 degrees Celsius. The document "More energy, less emissions: catalysing practical actions to address climate change", launched by the organisation, sets out the measures and progress made by its members in developing meaningful actions to address climate change, with a focus on efficiency, reduced use of fossil resources, innovation and new technologies and business models.

But it is nothing more than a smokescreen. And the report confirms it. While until a few years ago the pressure campaigns focused on sowing doubts about climate science, giving rise to outright denialist campaigns, the effort is now more insidious and ambiguous: the focus shifts to claiming that climate policies risk destabilising the jobs market and growth, or conjures up phantom technological solutions capable of rapidly decarbonising the economy. A double game we can no longer afford.