Oil Change Int'l

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">neglected, promoted to 2ndary, do good work, investigations?</font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ref report</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/03/30/despite-splashy-net-zero-vows-big-banks-dumping-trillions-fossil-fuels">https://www.commondreams.org/news<b>/2022/03</b>/30/despite-splashy-net-zero-vows-big-banks-dumping-trillions-fossil-fuels</a></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><h1 class="mb-2" id="node-title" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; line-height: 1.125; margin-bottom: 1rem !important;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">despite 'Splashy' Net-Zero Vows, Big Banks Dumping Trillions Into Fossil Fuels</font></span></h1><div class="block" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="headlinefield-subtitle text-lg tracking-tighter leading-tightest" style="box-sizing: border-box; letter-spacing: -0.1px; line-height: 1.2;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"With Wall Street banks leading the charge, these financial institutions are directly complicit in undermining a climate-stable future for us all."</font></div></div><div class="block" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="py-5 d-flex align-items-start" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex !important; align-items: flex-start !important; padding-top: 2.5rem !important; padding-bottom: 2.5rem !important;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p class="text-xs text-uppercase font-weight-bold mb-0" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px !important; text-transform: uppercase !important; font-weight: 700 !important;"><span lang="en" about="/author/jake-johnson" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/author/jake-johnson" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">JAKE JOHNSON</font></a></span></p><span class="text-xs" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">March 30, 2022</font></span></div></div></div><div class="block" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="headlinebody prose node__body" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 800;">Flouting their public vows</span> to put themselves and their clients on a path to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, the world's 60 largest private banks have provided a total of $4.6 trillion in financing for the fossil fuel industry since the Paris Agreement entered into force in 2016.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">That's according to the latest edition of <a href="https://priceofoil.org/content/uploads/2022/03/Banking-on-Climate-Chaos-2022.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 700;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Banking on Climate Chaos</span></a>, an annual report that tracks the banking industry's funding of oil and gas initiatives that are <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/03/22/rich-nations-must-cut-oil-and-gas-2034-keep-climate-hopes-alive-report" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 700;">threatening</a> global hopes of reining in carbon pollution and averting climate disaster.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>In 2021 alone, the report finds, the world's biggest private-sector banks financed oil and gas to the tune of $742 billion. That year, the 60 banks featured in the new analysis poured $185.5 billion into the 100 companies doing the most to expand the fossil-fuel sector worldwide through offshore drilling, fracking, coal mining, liquefied natural gas infrastructure, and more</b>.  Authored by Oil Change International, the Rainforest Action Network, the Indigenous Environmental Network, and other groups and endorsed by hundreds of organizations from around the world, the report published Wednesday spotlights the marked contrast between banks' public commitments to net-zero emissions targets and their actions, which reflect a continued stake in fossil fuel development.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">The worst offenders in the banking industry, according to the report, are the U.S. financial behemoths <b>JPMorgan Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America, </b>which together accounted for 25% of all fossil fuel financing identified over the past six years.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The report highlights a number of specific projects, including the <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/02/03/federal-court-deals-blow-noxious-fracked-gas-mountain-valley-pipeline" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 700;">Mountain Valley Pipeline</a> (funded by JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America), drilling in offshore Guyana (funded by JPMorgan Chase, Citi, and Bank of America), and the <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/tag/line-3" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 700;">Line 3 Pipeline</a> (funded by TD, Scotiabank, and the Bank of Montreal), efforts that have drawn fierce resistance from Indigenous communities.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Indigenous peoples have long been leading the fight for the sacredness of the land, water, and Earth," Mea Johnson, divestment campaign coordinator with the Indigenous Environmental Network, said in a statement Wednesday. "Mother Earth has always given us what we need to thrive. We will not back down until our natural balance is restored and anyone helping fund the extractive destruction of our communities will be held accountable."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alison Kirsch, research and policy manager at the Rainforest Action Network, added that "any further expansion of fossil fuels risks locking humanity into generations of climate catastrophe, yet the top fossil clients of the world's largest banks are still being showered with tens of billions of dollars even as they actively expand drilling, mining, fracking, and other fossil fuel development unabated."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"With Wall Street banks leading the charge," Kirsch added, "these financial institutions are directly complicit in undermining a climate-stable future for us all and must immediately end their support of any further fossil fuel infrastructure expansion."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The banks' financing decisions fly in the face of their own <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2021/02/11/bank-america-sets-net-zero-emissions-target-without-key-details-get-there" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 700;">pledges</a> to bring their policies into line with critical climate goals, such as achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, a benchmark that 44 of the 60 banks profiled in the new report have backed.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
"But global banks have massively supported the companies doing the most to open new oil and gas fields," notes the new report. "Banks with net-zero commitments last year... financed the top 20 upstream oil and gas expansion companies, potentially helping to lock the planet into decades of climate-warming emissions."  <a href="https://www.iea.org/reports/net-zero-by-2050" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 700;">According to</a> the International Energy Agency, reaching net-zero emissions by 2050 would mean ensuring "no new oil and gas fields."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Adele Shraiman, a representative for the<b> Sierra Club's Fossil-Free Finance campaign,</b> said Wednesday that the analysis "makes it clear that banks must clean up their act and stop funding the expansion of dirty fossil fuel projects like fracked gas exports, tar sands pipelines, and offshore drilling in order to align with what the science demands and what their own commitments require."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Despite their splashy climate pledges, big banks have largely continued with business-as-usual and actually increased their overall fossil fuel financing since the Paris Agreement," said Shraiman. "As we look ahead to shareholder season, we'll be keeping up the pressure on the banks and their investors to take these critical reforms seriously and stop bankrolling the fossil fuel industry's reckless expansion plans."</font></p></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p></div></div><div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://gizmodo.com/what-happens-to-exxon-now-1846984417">https://gizmodo.com/what-happens-to-exxon-now-1846984417</a></font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></font></font></font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">What Happens to Exxon Now?</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">ByMolly Taft</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">5/27/21 </div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">An activist investor that staged a coup at Exxon on Wednesday over the company’s mishandling of climate change and got two new board members elected has generated headlines around the world.</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">But that coup is a little more complex than it seems at first glance. Wednesday’s win was, in part, a victory because of just how terrible Exxon has been up until now at planning for its future, and demonstrates how far we have to go in terms of making real change at the world’s major fossil fuel companies.</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">First, there’s the issue of who, exactly, investors chose to put on the board from the list of four candidates proposed by activist investor Engine No. 1. Reading the new board members’ bios may make any climate activist’s eyebrows shoot up—ecosocialists, they definitely are not. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Gregory Goff is a former vice president at Marathon Petroleum, while Kaisa Hietala transitioned from upstream oil gas exploration to biofuels at oil refining giant Neste. Both Goff and Hietala, in fact, have lots of experience in oil refining, and perhaps not coincidentally, Exxon posted a $1.1 billion loss last year in its refined products division. Goff in particular, one analyst told Reuters, will be “far more concerned with Exxon Mobil’s management structure and lack of entrepreneurship than some misguided attempt to target net-zero.”</span></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">Even the big investors who made yesterday’s coup possible don’t really deserve green kudos; they basically did the absolute bare minimum to keep Exxon functioning in a modern business landscape<b>. It’s notable that the only Engine No. 1 board candidate BlackRock didn’t decide to vote for was Anders Runevad, the former CEO of Vestas Wind System and the only board candidate with renewable energy experience. </b>BlackRock also voted against a separate motion that would have mandated Exxon provide a report to its shareholders on the environmental and health impacts of their products. Writing in its guide for how shareholders should vote, BlackRock said it “believes that efforts already undertaken by Exxon to protect public health and the environment have been genuine and produced actual benefits to shareholders and to society.” (Sure, Jan.)</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">Related Stories</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">Exxon and Chevron Got Their Teeth Kicked In, But Shareholders Won’t Finish the Job]</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">But Wednesday, still, was a big deal. It shows that investors are sick of losing money and view the prospect of rampant oil production is untenable financially in a world finally starting to get real about addressing climate change.</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">“This was a moment where investors decided they were fed up with Exxon digging its heels in and acting like they could ignore their stakeholders and society as a whole—they were acting like they were untouchable,” said Ben Cushing, the financial advocacy campaign manager at the Sierra Club. “This was a moment where investors flipped the table on them and said, ‘we’re done playing nice, we’re coming for actual leadership change.’”</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><b>Even though they have roots in managing oil and gas companies, Cushing said the the Engine No. 1 candidates “ran on a platform that the company’s attitude of ‘drill, baby, drill, forever’ is not going to cut it.”</b></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">To contextualize the symbolic importance of getting some people who have thought for two seconds about climate change on Exxon’s board, it’s worth reiterating just how miserably behind the eight ball Exxon is, even in oil and gas land. The company has no net zero commitment at all, which its competitors like BP, Shell, and Total have all at least put a little thought into. Unlike BP, which has aggressively upped its investments in renewable energy, Exxon has barely dipped a toe into renewables at all, instead pouring almost all of its investment into carbon capture and storage and biofuels. And Exxon has basically seemed to convince itself that, despite mounting evidence to the contrary, oil and gas is going to keep being a thing.</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">“Under most third-party scenarios that meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement, oil and natural gas continue to play a significant role for decades,” the company’s website reads. <b>Exxon’s vice president for Africa and Asia Pacific said as recently as March that continued oil and gas exploration was “very important” when considering a green energy future (sorry… what?)</b>.</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">It’s not hard to see how investors, who might still believe in the short-term profitability of oil and gas or in a long-term survival strategy for fossil fuel companies using aggressive carbon capture technology, are frustrated with Exxon. <b>A report published by <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">Oil Change International</span> last fall compares and contrasts details of the climate plans for eight major international oil companies. </b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">While no one company scored high marks, Exxon was only one of two companies to get a “grossly insufficient” ranking in all categories. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>The other company that scored that low was Chevron</b>, which faced its own investor insurrection yesterday after two-thirds of its shareholders bucked the company’s wishes and voted to mandate it provide more thorough accounting for its downstream emissions.</span></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">So what’s next? An International Energy Agency report published earlier this month said oil and gas production should basically end ASAP to keep the world on track to reach Paris Agreement targets. It also makes it pretty clear what needs to happen at Exxon and its ilk.</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">“For starters, no new investment in oil and gas exploration projects,” said Cushing. “Then we can turn to the question of how to phase out existing projects in a timely manner.”</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">But that’s a tall order for such a drilling-addicted company. It may hinge on whether shareholders, especially the big investors like BlackRock and Vanguard who have made net zero commitments for their investment portfolios, will keep up the pressure on the company.</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">“Let’s be clear: Exxon is still Exxon,” said Cushing. “There’s certainly hope that the new board members who get in there will be able to lay down new markers and have more conversations about change. I think we will see fig-leaf commitments from Exxon. They’re definitely going to come out with, ‘oh we’re going to set some targets, that kind of stuff’ because not doing that would invite shareholder backlash. The question now for investors is, are you looking for symbolic leadership change or are you looking for concrete changes that align with the long-term targets you want to hit?”</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><b>
</b></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><b>Ultimately, yesterday’s other one-two punches—along with the Chevron vote, Shell got its ass handed to it in court in the Netherlands after a judge mandated it needed to cut emissions 45% by 2030—may create a narrative that is more powerful than the board election alone.</b> Two lone board members added to the leadership of an oil company can’t do too much, but Wednesday was a dark day for oil and gas companies (and a bright one for the climate). Big Oil should take what happened as a warning that major change is needed.</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">“It’s a huge narrative win and a symbolic victory,” said Cushing. “Time will tell how much of a material impact it actually makes on Exxon’s business plan.”</div></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/06/this-obscure-2020-candidate-actually-has-the-most-ambitious-and-impressive-climate-change-policy-weve-seen-yet/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2019/06/this-obscure-2020-candidate-actually-has-the-most-ambitious-and-impressive-climate-change-policy-weve-seen-yet/</font></a></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">insleee endorse</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">

<a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20131205/worst-case-scenario-oil-sands-industry-has-come-life-leaked-document-shows">http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20131205/worst-case-scenario-oil-sands-industry-has-come-life-leaked-document-shows</a></font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://dirtyenergymoney.com/">http://dirtyenergymoney.com/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">really nice tool
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</font><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Oil Change International</b> is formally allied with <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/350.org" title="350.org">350.org</a>.</font></p>

<ul><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Steve_Kretzmann" title="Steve Kretzmann">Steve Kretzmann</a> - Executive Director</font></li></ul>

<h2><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Contents</font></h2>

</div></div><div id="mw-content-text" dir="ltr" class="mw-content-ltr" lang="en"><div id="toc" class="toc"><ul><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Oil_Change_International#What_it_is"><span class="tocnumber">1</span> <span class="toctext">What it is</span></a></font></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Oil_Change_International#History"><span class="tocnumber">2</span> <span class="toctext">History</span></a></font></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Oil_Change_International#Location"><span class="tocnumber">3</span> <span class="toctext">Location</span></a></font></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-4"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Oil_Change_International#Campaigns"><span class="tocnumber">4</span> <span class="toctext">Campaigns</span></a></font></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-5"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Oil_Change_International#Resources_and_Research"><span class="tocnumber">5</span> <span class="toctext">Resources and Research</span></a></font></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-6"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Oil_Change_International#Related_Publications"><span class="tocnumber">6</span> <span class="toctext">Related Publications</span></a></font></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-7"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Oil_Change_International#Resources_and_articles"><span class="tocnumber">7</span> <span class="toctext">Resources and articles</span></a></font>

<ul><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-8"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Oil_Change_International#Related_Sourcewatch_articles"><span class="tocnumber">7.1</span> <span class="toctext">Related Sourcewatch articles</span></a></font></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-9"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Oil_Change_International#References"><span class="tocnumber">7.2</span> <span class="toctext">References</span></a></font></li></ul>

</li></ul>

</div>

<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Oil Change International is a research and advocacy group </b>that

campaigns to expose the true costs of American addiction to oil and to

facilitate the transition towards clean energy. It is a 501(c)3

non-profit organization; its sister organization, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.oilchangeusa.org">Oil Change USA</a>, is a 501(c)4.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Clean energy advocates and activists have noted for decades that the

barriers to a clean energy transition are political, not technical.

Today, particularly in the United States, this is more apparent than

ever. Oil Change International is the first organization dedicated to

identifying, overcoming, and dismantling these political barriers to

clean energy.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In Oil Change International's analysis, the oil industry is a source

not only of global warming, but also human rights abuses, war, national

security concerns, corporate globalization, poverty, and addiction. Big

Oil is behind every major political barrier to a clean energy

transition; these barriers are:</font></p>

<ul><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The political influence of the oil industry, particularly in the

United States – OCI addresses this via its Separation of Oil & State

Campaign;</font></li><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The myth that oil production and consumption brings affluence,

particularly in the Global South, and the use of international

development funds to subsidize the oil industry – hence the campaign to

End Oil Aid.</font></li><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The financial mechanics of an industry that is rewarded for finding

more oil, not providing more energy - which OCI addresses via a campaign

focusing on financial analysts and investors.</font></li></ul>

<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Oil Change was founded in order to network together, encourage, and

compliment a diversity of strategies and tactics around the oil

industry. Its goal is to force progress in the energy industry towards

an environmentally and socially sustainable energy future. We achieve

this by: being a consistent and credible source of information on the

industry; using knowledge of the industry to craft strategic, incisive

campaigns; and by working with people around the world who are committed

to shifting power.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Oil Change International organizes to unite allies, campaigns to

divide opponents, and conducts research to expose hidden truths and

trends towards overcoming each of these barriers.</font></p>

<h3><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="History">History</span></font></h3>

<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It was founded in 2005 by Steve Kretzmann, and has since grown to

become a force in the progressive movement to fight the corrupting

influence of the oil industry in Congress.</font></p>

<h3><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Location">Location</span></font></h3>

<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Its headquarters is in Washington, DC.</font></p>

<h3><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Campaigns">Campaigns</span></font></h3>

<ul><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.nowarnowarming.org">No War No Warming</a>A

coalition of 50 anti-war and climate change advocates got together in

2007 to address the issue of global warming and the War in Iraq. This

campaign linked justice, peace, and sustainability into one big

movement.</font></li><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://priceofoil.org/oilandstate/">Separate Oil and State</a> This campaigns to reduce the amount of oil money taken from Congress members in order to break the barriers to clean energy.</font></li><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.endoilaid.org/">End Oil Aid</a> This is a coalition of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Friends_of_the_Earth" title="Friends of the Earth">Friends of the Earth</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.jubileeusa.org">Jubilee USA Network</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.priceofoil.org">Oil Change International</a>, and <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.peopleandplanet.org">People and Planet</a>

to end oil aid. Oil aid is money given by governments to oil companies-

sometimes directly through subsidies and sometimes indirectly through

the World Bank- in order to expand their industry even though oil

companies have some of the highest profits of all the industries. This

coalition addresses oil dependence, climate change, and international

debt.</font></li><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://priceofoil.org/thepriceofoil/war-terror/iraqi-oil-law/">Iraqi Oil Law</a>

Bush and Cheney was pushing for the release of Iraqi control of their

oil and putting it into the hands of international oil companies so that

they would have more control over oil. While this infringes on rules of

sovereignty and the rights of the Iraqi people to their land, it also

does not help our dependency on oil- it makes it worse.</font></li></ul>

<h3><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Resources_and_Research">Resources and Research</span></font></h3>

<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Oil Change International offers several online databases that expose the influence of Big Oil:</font></p>

<ul><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.followtheoilmoney.org">Follow the Oil Money</a>

tracks how much money each member of Congress accepts from the oil

industry and how this corresponds with their votes on key climate,

energy and security bills. You can search by Congress, zip code, or

name; you can also sort by company.</font></li><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.followthecoalmoney.org">Follow the Coal Money</a>

details how much money members of Congress have taken from the coal

industry. You can search by Congress, zip code, or name; you can also

sort by company.</font></li><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.oilaid.priceofoil.org">End Oil Aid</a>

is an interactive tool for tracking subsidies to the international oil

industry. You can search for oil aid by donor country, recipient

country, or donor financial institution.</font></li></ul>

<ul><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.oilchangeusa.org">Oil Change USA</a>,

the c4 sister organization to OCI, tracks how much money our

Presidential candidates accept from the oil industry. You can also

download and print your very own oil dollar bills featuring your member

of Congress at the Oil Dollar ATM.</font></li></ul>

<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">With these online tools, citizens can draw their own conclusions about the influence of corporate oil money in politics.</font>

<h3><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Related_Publications">Related Publications</span></font></h3>

<p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Antonia_Juhasz" title="Antonia Juhasz">Antonia Juhasz</a>, a fellow at Oil Change International, has two major books: <i>The Bush Agenda: Invading the World, One Economy at a Time</i>, which exposes oil relations with the Iraq war, and her most recent book <i>The Tyranny of Oil : The World's Most Powerful Industry--and what we must do to stop it</i>, which exposes the relationships between governments and oil.</font></span>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Juhasz, Antonia. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.thebushagenda.net/article.php?list=type&type=42"><i>The Bu$H Agenda: Invading the World, One Economy at a Time</i></a>. New York: HC, 2007.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Juhasz, Antonia. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.thebushagenda.net/article.php?list=type&type=44"><i>The Tyranny of Oil: The World's Most Powerful Industry--and What We Must Do to Stop It</i></a>. New York, NY: William Morrow, 2008.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">She also had an article published in the New York Times: <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/13/opinion/13juhasz.html">"Whose Oil is It Anyway"</a> in the March 13, 2007 issue of the New York Times.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://ran.org/media_center/experts/">Michael Brune</a>, executive director of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Rainforest_Action_Network" title="Rainforest Action Network">Rainforest Action Network</a>, also recently wrote a book called <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.amazon.com/Coming-Clean-Breaking-Americas-Addiction/dp/1578051495/ref=sr_11_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1225127740&sr=11-1"><i>Coming Clean: Breaking America's Addiction to Oil and Coal</i></a>.</font></p>

<ul><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Michael_Brune" title="Michael Brune" class="mw-redirect">Michael Brune</a>, <i>Coming Clean: Breaking America's Addiction to Oil and Coal</i>. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 2008.</font></li></ul>

<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><i>Poverty, Climate, and Energy: The Case Against Oil Aid.</i> June 2008. Created by <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Friends_of_the_Earth" title="Friends of the Earth">Friends of the Earth</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.weed-online.org/">WEED- World Economy, Ecology, and Development</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.jubileesouth.org">Jubilee Sotuh-ampdd</a>, and <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.priceofoil.org">Oil Change International</a>.</font></p>

<ul><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Stephen_Kretzmann" title="Stephen Kretzmann" class="mw-redirect">Stephen Kretzmann</a>, "Separation of Oil and State." <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.waterkeeper.org"><i>Waterkeeper Magazine.</i></a> Summer 2007</font></li></ul>

<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">-"The world's most profitable industry is also one of the most polluting." -Kretzmann</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Climate Equity"- A publication of <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.actionaidusa.org">ActionAid USA</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Friends_of_the_Earth" title="Friends of the Earth">Friends of the Earth</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.priceofoil.org">Oil Change International</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.oxfamamerica.org">Oxfam America</a>, and <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.climatenetwork.org">US Climate Action Network</a> that describes the various equity issues that arise because of climate change and what can be done to prevent them.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Aiding Oil: Harming the Climate." December 2007. This is a report

release by Oil Change International in relation to the UN Framework

Convention on Climate Change to address the issue of oil aid, the

government's practice of using taxpayer money, often intended for

poverty alleviation, to instead subsidize the oil and gas industry

internationally. Oil aid encourages the pursuit of more oil, which

results in conflict, poverty, corruption, and contributing to global

warming.</font></p>

<h2><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Resources_and_articles">Resources and articles</span></font></h2>

<ul><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jeffrey St. Clair, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/04/12/designer-protests-and-vanity-arrests-in-dc/">The Post-Modern Protest Blues, Designer Protests and Vanity Arrests in DC</a>, CounterPunch, April 12, 2013.</font></li><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/John_Stauber" title="John Stauber">John Stauber</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/03/15/the-progressive-movement-is-a-pr-front-for-rich-democrats/">The Progressive Movement is a PR Front for Rich Democrats</a>, March 15, 2013, CounterPunch.</font></li></ul>

<h3><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Related_Sourcewatch_articles">Related Sourcewatch articles</span></font></h3>

<ul><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/99%25_Spring" title="99% Spring">99% Spring</a></font></li><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Jeremy_Leggett" title="Jeremy Leggett">Jeremy Leggett</a></font></li><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Ilyse_Hogue" title="Ilyse Hogue">Ilyse Hogue</a></font></li></ul>

<h3><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="References">References</span></font></h3>

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