Have you heard that offshore wind farms kill whales? (They don’t.) Or that petrol cars catch fire more frequently than electric vehicles? It’s the opposite. You may have heard that “natural” gas was clean. It can be more harmful than coal.
Here’s what misinformation about climate looks like. These claims are widespread, influential, and harmful. These claims are often made to delay the adoption of cleaner alternatives to fossil fuels. Unfortunately, they are influencing public opinion.
This week, an Senate enquiry will hear testimony from government officials, climate scientists, and researchers on the scope of the problem, and its impact on Australian politics. The main perpetrators are the oil, coal and gas companies as well as their key enablers, such as public relation firms. I was one the experts called to give testimony.
In my research, I have tracked the money trail that links the fossil fuel industry to public relations firms. As co-editor of a forthcoming book about climate obstruction I can confirm that large PR agencies have put their commercial and fossil fuel interests ahead of the public’s. In our submission, my colleagues and I clearly stated this.
What is the purpose of misinformation, anyway?
Researchers in the climate domain use the term “misinformation”, which refers to falsehoods regarding climate change. They can be spread by accident or deliberately.
Misinformation is important because it can affect attitudes and behaviors of the public as well as political elites. To combat climate change, the public must support clean energy and other changes. This support for climate policies and science is undermined by misinformation. The more false information is repeated the likely are we to believe it.
These campaigns can give policymakers an false impression about the level of support for climate change.
Australian policymakers have banned or restricted advertising of products that are known to be harmful. The advertising of cigarettes is prohibited because they cause cancer. Now, there’s a growing push to ban advertising for fossil fuels due to emissions.
How do PR companies spread misinformation about climate change?
Public relations and advertising firms are paid for years to create political campaigns on behalf of oil and gas companies, often to slow down or block climate policies.
These campaigns are more than just a few TV ads that a client runs. Public relations firms run media and social media campaigns, as well as polling and focus groups. Some companies engage in Astroturfing, which is the creation of fake community groups that give the appearance of widespread support for or opposition to an issue or policy.
These campaigns are most prominent in the United States. My colleague and I examined tax records from industry groups in the US that are active on climate-change issues to gauge the amount of money the oil and gas industries spends on PR firms for political campaigns. Oil and gas lobby groups have spent A$1.5billion on advertising and public relations between 2008 and 2018.
What was this money spent on? This is an example. Before the 2012 US Presidential election, a group called “Energy Citizens”, ran a campaign entitled “I’m a energy voter” in newspapers, on television, and online. It featured ordinary Americans saying, “I vote… for American domestic electricity”.
Energy Citizens was presented as a grassroots movement. In reality, the campaign was astroturfing. The oil and gas industries had hired the PR firm Edelman for the campaign. The actors in the ads are hired. Our data indicates that between 2011 and 2012 the American Petroleum Institute (the largest oil and gas group) paid Edelman A$180,000,000 in public relations and advertising contracts.
Climate obstruction is commonplace in Australia
It is not just a US problem. There is a history of PR firms obstructing climate policy in Australia. Between 2008 and 2010, the coal campaign in Australia against an emissions trading system was created by political consultants and PR firms.
We don’t know the amount of money that industry groups pay PR agencies in Australia because Australia has poor disclosure practices.
We do know that PR firms are creating misinformation campaign as well as astroturfing group such as Australians for Natural Gas which calls itself a non government organisation. According to media news, it was created by the CEO of gas company Tamboran Resources with assistance from PR firm Freshwater Strategy.
As has documented by Climate Communications charity Comms Declare, many PR firms in Australia worked for fossil fuel companies. Some PR professionals have responded by pushing to break ties from the fossil fuel industry.
Information that is misleading can be dangerous
The problem is acknowledged at the highest level. Last year, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres asked PR companies to “stop acting like enablers of planetary destruction”.
The Australian government published its report last month on the real and growing dangers of climate change.
The Senate hearings this week could not have come at a better time. Public relations firms are spreading misinformation about climate change, even as the threat of global warming increases. How will policymakers react?
Christian Downie receives funding through the Australian Research Council
