Welcome back to COP, LOOK, LISTEN. The spotlight on COP is usually most intense during the opening and closing days of the summit. At these times, more people may encounter climate content 'in the wild’ and be curious to learn more. Search engines appear a neutral way to find relevant information, especially when compared to highly curated social media feeds. 

Unfortunately, search engine results can be manipulated. CAAD and Roots searched for key climate terms during COP28 and found fossil fuel greenwashing ads on Google and Bing. In some cases, climate misinformation also appeared organically (non-advertised) in search results. This means that right now, as COP draws to a close, curious members of the public are likely being served similar content. They may assume it’s the most relevant or credible material out there. After all, isn’t that what search engines are for? 

We spoke to Khawla, one of the Roots COP28 Youth Delegation, about this issue. She said: 

”The way that search engines are amplifying greenwashing is simply inexcusable. As both an educator and researcher, I'm deeply concerned by the tangible impact this is having on my students' work. It's disheartening but not surprising to witness the championing of false solutions in their assignments, fed by fossil fuel giants via Google's search results.”

Climate misinformation researcher Sean Buchan said: 

“This analysis demonstrates that fossil fuel companies continue to invest heavily in long-term influence campaigns. What’s more shocking is they are clearly attempting to control the narrative around important climate terms. This is the next step in a decades-long effort from the fossil fuel industry, which has ranged from outright climate denial, to doubt over climate solutions, to today’s greenwashing findings.”

FINDING OF THE DAY

We ran searches on Google and Bing for COP28- and climate-related keywords in multiple locations and languages, often using a VPN. Terms included “climate”, “climate change”, “global warming”, “net zero”, “low carbon”, “renewable energy”, “electric vehicle”, “COP28” and “UAE”. Our main findings include:

• Fossil fuel greenwashing adverts found ‘on the ground’: Searches conducted from the COP28 conference on Google for “net zero”, “renewable energy” and “low carbon” surfaced fossil fuel adverts in English and Arabic. Advertisers included Aramco, BP, Petronas, Shell and TotalEnergies.

• Fossil fuel greenwashing adverts found in English: Searches in the United States surfaced greenwashing ads from major fossil fuel companies on both Google and Bing, including from ExxonMobil, BP, and Enbridge. Searches in other languages and locations, including German (Germany), Dutch (the Netherlands), Spanish (Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Mexico, Spain) and Portuguese (Brazil), did not result in greenwashing adverts in our tests.

• Climate misinformation on the front pages of search engines: English-language searches in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States displayed unsponsored (i.e. non-paid-for) climate misinformation alongside credible scientific sources. This was true for tests conducted on Google and Bing (all countries), and also for YouTube (excluding Canada). We also found a few parallel examples within Google search results in Portuguese.

The search terms “climate” and “net zero” surfaced more ads than “COP28” or “UAE”, suggesting this activity is not event-specific but part of a broader strategy of influence.

When we were able to perform platform comparisons, we found that Google and Bing surfaced a similar amount of greenwashing ads. Google surfaced far more climate misinformation in organic searches. This is in part, but not entirely, because there are significantly more results on Google’s front page than on Bing’s.

ExxonMobil advert appearing before reputable sources on an English-language search for "climate" on Bing.

A "renewable energy" search conducted at COP28 surfaces a sponsored ad for "neutral fuels" and another from Petronas about "Accelerating The Net Zero".

An English search for "low carbon" at COP28 surfaces an ad for Aramco high in the search results on the front page.

First results for "climate" on YouTube in the US. A sponsored ad from Arup appears at the top, and two Fox News articles containing climate misinformation appear shortly after. Other misinformation on YouTube was surfaced by Fox News, GB News and Sky News Australia in searches in Australia, Canada and the UK.

Note: we were unable to run all keyword searches in every language and location listed, due to time restraints and access to VPNs. But given previous findings on Google’s Ad Transparency Center and searches for “carbon capture storage”, these discoveries are likely only the tip of the iceberg. Fossil fuel companies and other vested interests are clearly targeting common climate keywords to manipulate perception of the climate crisis.

Action 1

Google and Bing are aiding and abetting fossil fuel companies to influence the public on the state of the climate crisis, despite their parent companies having strong public stances on climate change. Even worse, the platforms are directly earning revenue in the process. Online platforms are just the newest frontier in a long-term campaign by the fossil fuel industry to delay climate action. As with Big Tobacco,  regulators should consider whether fossil fuel advertising is appropriate on such tools, which often serve as the ‘front page’ of the internet for many users across the globe.

Action 2 

Search engine providers should review their Terms of Service through the lens of CAAD’s definition of climate mis- and disinformation, which includes greenwashing under Tier 3. In 2021, Google announced a policy to demonetise climate denial across its products and services, although enforcement has been patchy at best. Clearly the problem extends far beyond denial, and policies must confront the reality of industry lobbying in all its forms. Should the world’s biggest polluters feature (or even pay to feature) among the top results for terms like “climate”?

If you are a journalist that wants more information on this study, please contact us at contact@caad.info

GOOD TO KNOW

Climate disinformation also on Google ads. A PragerU video titled “do we have to destroy the earth to save it?”, presented by misinformation super-spreader Michael Shellenberger, is also appearing as an ad on Google search. It states that “wind … and solar … do more harm to the planet than good”. It then cherry-picks scientific data to emphasise the downsides of renewable energy. This style of video is among the most popular climate content from PragerU, as we found in our bulletin earlier this summer. Somewhat ironically, we couldn’t verify the ad on Google’s Ad Transparency Center in a reasonable amount of time, in part because PragerU has so many, and in part because the Ad Transparency Center is so hard to use.

McKinsey greenwashing on LinkedIn. Consulting firms have so far mostly avoided the spotlight when it comes to climate misinformation. We decided to check on McKinsey, and found a lot of greenwashing activity on LinkedIn. The organisation frequently discusses “sustainability” on its Company Page, but does not appear to declare the climate impacts caused from its fossil fuel ties. It also promotes carbon removal, carbon capture, utilisation, and storage and “high-integrity carbon markets”. Looks like there’s more to this story - one to watch for the future.

Over 100 agribusiness lobbyists gain privileged access. Desmog analysed a list of 340 agribusiness lobbyists at this year’s COP and found that more than 100 have travelled as part of official country delegations. The agriculture industry is a large contributor to global heating. In particular, synthetic fertilisers are heavy contributors, while livestock farming emits around a third of global methane. Another topic on our radar - watch this space.

GREENWASHING TRACKER

Keeping up with the sheer quantity of fossil fuel industry greenwashing can be tough. We’ve got you covered. In today’s greenwashing tracker:

In our search engine analysis we found the same McKinsey article on the front pages for “net zero” in most English-language searches. The article downplays the role of the fossil fuel industry - some of whom are clients of the consultancy firm - in causing climate change. Claims include “CO2…occurs both naturally and as a byproduct of human activities such as burning fossil fuels”, “all industries - not just the energy sector - must achieve net zero”, “people and organizations can set their own net-zero aspirations” and “oil and gas companies in particular are making the low-carbon transition…transforming into diversified energy players.”

Also on Meta, BP is running an ad with its “and, not or” slogan in German-language. The campaign is targeted specifically to women between 25 and 44 years old, according to the platform’s Ad Library. One 20-second video says “Accelerate the energy transition + ensure security of supply. And, not or. We want to invest up to 10 billion in Germany by 2030.”

That’s it for today. If there’s more misinformation out there, you can be sure that we’ll keep ‘searching’.

If you have any investigative leads CAAD should explore, or want to find out more about our research and intel during the summit, please email contact@caad.info. We also have team members on the ground in the UAE who are available for interviews and side-events as useful.

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