Happy Earth Week from New York City and The Rock

Trust us.

It’s been a very exciting week here at the Center for Climate Integrity. On Earth Day, New York City sued Exxon, BP, Shell and the American Petroleum Institute under the city’s consumer protection law for systematically and intentionally deceiving New Yorkers  “about the central role their products play in causing the climate crisis.” 

Corporate Accountability @StopCorpAbuse

You know what day it is 👀 #EarthDay #EarthDay2021

Mike Meno @_MikeMeno

🚨BREAKING: New York City sues ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, and the American Petroleum Institute for systemically and intentionally deceiving New Yorkers. @NYCMayor: "My Earth Day message to Big Oil: See you in court.” https://t.co/iJCAILq8QI https://t.co/8yFa2K2TTt

We’ll be covering the new lawsuit in full next week. Until then, some other Earth Week news: we launched a brand-new, never-before-seen ad featuring none other than box office sensation Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson! Check it out: 

Center for Climate Integrity @climatecosts

.... and now, a special #EarthDay message from @TheRock 🙌 Get the unpolluted facts ➡️ bigoilbiglies.com

OK, fine, so it’s not really Dwayne Johnson. But we’re hoping that this new short — which has been airing this week during CNN and MSNBC’s primetime shows in the Washington, D.C. market — will remind viewers in the nation’s capital that you can’t trust everyone, especially the lying corporate polluters that created and continue to escalate the climate crisis. 

“Celebrities are always willing to speak up for a worthy cause,” explained Ari Merkin of the agency Ari&Friends, which developed the ad. “We wanted to tap into that convention to make our point about pollution. With so much misinformation out there, it's harder than ever to know who to trust. We figured we could make it easier for everyone by making the lies more obvious. It's about time we had a brand out of there to call out the bullshit and course correct the narrative around climate. “

And call bullshit we all must — as lying polluters are still spreading misinformation to influence and blunt climate actions that could threaten their bottom line.  

I mean, what else should we call this desperate hostage video Exxon is currently paying to promote? 

ExxonMobil @exxonmobil

ExxonMobil is reducing emissions in our operations and developing innovative lower-carbon technologies to help address the risks of climate change. We support society’s goal of lower-carbon energy. future.

How strongly does Exxon stand behind that statement from CEO Darren Woods? Enough that they won’t allow the public reply to the Tweet.

Big Oil executives deceiving people about their role in climate change is nothing new, of course. It’s actually the origin story of the climate crisis. And guess what? We’re running another ad in D.C. to remind the folks who are watching cable news — and this Sunday’s Meet The Press — about that too. Here it is. 

Center for Climate Integrity @climatecosts

40 years ago, when Big Oil's own scientists predicted that burning fossil fuels could lead to "catastrophic effects," they spent billions to sweep it under the rug. #BigOilKnew. Big Oil lied. Learn more ➡️ payupclimatepolluters.com

Help us spread the word about Big Oil’s lies. Please go ahead and give these ads a share. 

ICYMI News Roundup

• “A Great Deception”: Oil Giants Ripped for Greenwashing

• Biden plans to cut emissions at least in half by 2030

• Science could aid climate cases. Big Oil is fighting it