8 oil companies are consuming a third of our remaining carbon budget

The climate plans of Eni, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell, TotalEnergies, BP, Equinor and ConocoPhillips are not in line with the objectives of the Paris Agreement.

• The “Big oil reality check” report from the Oil change international organization has been released.
• None of the companies analysed, including Eni, are in line with the Paris Agreement.
• Not only that, but the companies themselves facilitate the supply of crude oil to Israel.

Eight oil and gas companies, including Eni, will consume on their own 30 percent of the remaining CO2 budget to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius (°C):the report says so Big oil reality check, published by the organization Oil change international.The report analyzed the climate commitments and plans of Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell, TotalEnergies, BP, Eni, Equinor and ConocoPhillips based on ten criteria that represent the bare minimum to align with the climate objectives of the Paris Agreement.The result is that none of these companies are aligned.

Not only that, 6 of the 8 companies analyzed (Chevron, ExxonMobil, TotalEnergies, ConocoPhillips, Equinor and Eni) have the explicit goal of increasing oil and gas production.Even those companies (BP and Shell) that have no explicit plans to increase production in this sense are still submitting new fossil fuel projects, with the difference that these assets are sold to other companies.In short, a strategy greenwashing different.

Fossil companies are going in the opposite direction

While participating countries committed to gradually abandoning fossil fuels at Cop28 in Dubai, the Oil change international report reveals that oil and gas companies they are moving in the opposite direction, doubling the drilling which cause damage to the climate.Not only are none of the companies analyzed in line with the Paris Agreement but there are not even any that have set objectives to guarantee a rapid and constant reduction of their total emissions, starting now.By doing so, it is certain that companies will not reduce their emissions this decade.

All of the companies analyzed in the report intend to rely on carbon capture and storage (CCS), offsets or other methods that delay – and therefore distract – from the end of fossil fuels.Furthermore, Oil change international highlights what all companies continue to do lobbying against climate action, thus compromising the energy transition.

Eni is misaligned with climate objectives

Such news should worry shareholders, management and governments, yet Eni has plans in the coming years even to increase its hydrocarbon production, postponing emissions cuts to the future and exploiting extremely expensive and uncertain technologies, such as CCS, and compensation systems.“These choices by the company not only put the climate objectives at risk, but the stability of the business in the medium term, laying the foundations for a potential crisis that will affect workers and shareholders and, first and foremost, the Italian state,” writes Oil change international.

“To avoid this scenario we need to manage the transition immediately, decisively shifting investments towards renewables, decarbonising its portfolio of activities, which however is not currently seen in the company's investment plans", commented Luca Iacoboni, head of external relations and strategies for decarbonisation at Ecco , the Italian climate think tank.

“A fossil fuel transition plan that limits global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees requires ending oil and gas expansion and starting to reduce fossil fuel production now, not tomorrow,” Antonio added. Tricarico, public finance and multinational campaigner at ReCommon."THE'Eni is clearly off track, with a plan to increase oil and gas production by up to 17 percent by 2030.Eni's financiers and investors should verify the fairy tale sold by Eni's management and raise their voices if they do not want to end up being complicit in this greenwashing propaganda."

And not even human rights

Not only the climate, but the companies analyzed do not even take into consideration respect for basic human rights.For example, each of them is experiencing resistance from communities towards their projects, in particular by indigenous populations but not only.A demonstration that these projects continue to present problems in terms of human rights, health and safety.

Finally, in March 2024, another investigation by Oil change international revealed that ExxonMobil, Chevron, TotalEnergies, BP, Shell and Eni are all complicit in the facilitate the supply of crude oil to Israel.This is in the context of the ongoing massacre of Palestinians in Gaza by the Israeli army and growing evidence of war crimes.