Study: 5 Big Oil firms spent US$10.9m on greenwash ads on Google Search

Five of the largest oil and gas companies - ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron, Shell and Aramco - were found to have spent a combined total of US$23.7 million over two years on Google Search ads in the US. Of that amount, US$10.9 million was spent on greenwashing ads and that total includes US$5.7 million that was spent on ads targeting search queries related to environmental sustainability.

Research by non-profit organisation Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) found that those greenwashing ads were viewed more than 58 million times and clicked more than 1.8 million times. Among the five Big Oil companies studied, BP spent the highest among on Google Search ads, with a total spend over the two years of US$9.7 million.

ExxonMobil had the second highest spend of US$8.1 million. Meanwhile, Chevron and Shell spent US$3.1 million and US$2.4 million respectively. Aramco only spent US$431,528. Together, the five Big Oil companies account for 14.38% of carbon emissions globally since 1965, according to prior research carried out by the Climate Accountability Institute.

CCDH used the data analytics tool Semrush to compile a dataset of 32,816 US Google Search ads placed by these five companies on 61,216 separate search queries between 1 September 2020 and 31 August 2022, and the amount they spent on each one.

At the same time, Google was also found to have accepted US$421,000 to run ads from the Competitive Enterprise Institute to serve ads linked to blog posts promoting climate denial. These ads were served on search queries such as "climate change hoax", "global warming is not real", and "global warming debunked".

Which Big Oil company spent the most on greenwashing ads?

BP was found to have spent the most on greenwashing ads, forking out US$5.3 million over two years. This was followed by ExxonMobil, which spent US$4 million, and Shell, which spent US$1.2 million. Aramco spent US$317,710 and Chevron spent US$112,854.

The extent to which companies allocated their Google ad budgets to greenwashing differed. BP, Shell, and Aramco were found to have spent over half of their total Google search ad spent on greenwashing ads, while ExxonMobile spent 49%. Chevron only spent 3.6%.

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The majority of BP's greenwashing spend went towards running sustainability-themed ads on search queries for its own name. This included ads promoting BP's public commitment to net-zero and its transition to renewable energies. Meanwhile, a 2021 ad redirects users to an article from BP titled "bp aims for zero routine flaring in US onshore operations by 2025” in which it claims that BP’s flaring intensity has "decreased dramatically". A year later, BP along with Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron, and Eni were exposed by BBC for not declaring gas flaring emissions.

As for ExxonMobil, the research found that its greenwashing spend peaked in December 2020, coinciding with its pledge to reduce carbon emissions. It spent US$762,050 on greenwashing ads running on search queries for either its own name or that of one of its Big Oil competitors. ExxonMobil invested another US$3.2 million into ads that targeted sustainability-themed search queries.

In total, ExxonMobil’s ads were found to have appeared on 1,788 separate queries relating to sustainability. Also, nearly US$1 million of its spend on greenwashing ads targeted queries related to greenhouse gases. These included searches for "greenhouse gas emissions" and "carbon "emissions".

Similarly, Shell spent US$221,591 on greenwashing ads targeting searches for itself and US$$968,985 on ads targeting 676 separate queries related to environmental sustainability. More specifically, it spent more than US$180,000 on the single search query "net zero company". According to the research, ads running on search queries concerning net zero promoted claims that "we can achieve a net-zero emissions world" but linked to a page on Shell's corporate website with no explicit commitment to net zero.

Aramco spent US$223,415 on search queries concerning environmental sustainability and an additional US$94,295 on greenwashing ads targeting users searching for information about the company. Research found that Google Search ads placed by Aramco linked to a website with claims about the company being "one of the lowest carbon emitters in our industry". This is despite expert assessments that rank Aramco as one of the biggest carbon emitters since 1965.

Meanwhile, for Chevron's greenwashing ads, the oil giant was found to have targeted a total of 56 search queries, including "eco friendly" and "social responsibility definition". According to the research, 41 of the queries targeted by Chevron had the term "sustainable" or "sustainability", including “sustainability definition” and “sustainable development”.

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