Corporate Greenwashing and the Oil Industry

And How They are Getting Away With It

Greenwashing is defined by Merriam Webster as “expressions of environmentalist concerns especially as a cover for products, policies, or activities” (“Definition Of GREENWASHING”). We see this in our day-to-day lives, but you see it at an extraordinary rate if you live near an oil field or chemical plant. There, you smell the chemicals in the air. You hear the kids with asthma sigh when they see the air quality report for the day and grab their inhalers. You wait in traffic on that new road that plowed through trees so workers could get to and from work faster. In order to combat the oil industry’s corporate greenwashing, we must understand how oil companies greenwash, who oil companies harm when they greenwash, and why greenwashing continues in the oil industry.

The oil industry continues to operate with extreme precision, knowing exactly how and when to take a more “environmental” stance. This is when they make the choice to participate in corporate greenwashing. There are various ways in which oil companies can greenwash, and as one of the first industries to be labeled as one that greenwashes, this is unsurprising. In the mid-1980s, the highly successful Chevron released “People Do,” a series of advertisements that meant to convince consumers that the large oil company does more good for the environment than harm. The commercials used footage of endangered species in sanctuaries funded by the company and narratives of animals who would simply hibernate while their home is being drained of resources, causing no harm at all (Watson). These commercials may seem extreme, and they are. Now, however, oil companies are getting better at corporate greenwashing by inserting it into their list of company values. Last year on November 27, 2019, the TCP Group Petrochemical Plant in Port Neches, Texas exploded (Kiah Collier).

A process tower flies through air after exploding at the TPC Group Petrochemical Plant in Port Neches. An earlier massive explosion sparked a blaze at the plant on Nov. 27, 2019.

This explosion obviously damaged the surrounding environment, but oil corporations like the TCP Group know how to wash over these environmental injuries and make themselves look a bit more green in the process. On the homepage of the TCP Group’s website, they state “Our employees are committed to safely making these products in a manner that is protective of our environment and respectful of the communities where we have operations,” but if you look at their policies regarding the environment, they define the environment as workers and communities near their operations. They never mention nature (Group). This matters because the oil industry has learned how to legally greenwash in their own mission statements, misleading consumers who continue to purchase their products with little to no guilt because the companies must be doing better than they used to on the environmental front. But oil is still just as dirty, regardless of if you put something about protecting the environment on your homepage. The oil industry continues to greenwash in these ways, and in order to stop them, we have to keep searching out ways that they greenwash.

Not only do oil companies harm the environment when they greenwash, they also harm people. As mentioned before, the TCP Group Petrochemical Plant explosion took place in Port Neches, Texas. I live right outside of the evacuation zone that was set up after the explosion. I saw the smoke from several towns over, but more importantly, I saw the stakeholders of the oil industry’s corporate greenwashing all at once: the people who lived near plants, plant workers, and the corporation itself. People who live near petrochemical plants are more likely to have respiratory health issues, and the same goes for the workers that keep the plants running. Air pollution is extremely high near petrochemical plants, and in 2011, 3.4 million work days were lost because of air pollution(“Environmental Concerns — Processdesign”). But people continue to work and live near petrochemical plants despite this. Part of this is due to the oil companies’ extraordinary efforts to keep workers through greenwashing. While the work is dangerous, plant workers are paid well for their services. Although that is a factor in why people would work in a toxic environment, there is also a constant stream of positive greenwashing stories that are distributed throughout the lower levels of company, justifying workers in their choice of employment. On ExxonMobil’s website, they highlight how they are doing more for the environment now than ever with testimonies from lower level employees. These stories are at the surface very touching and create hope, and I have even heard these stories repeated by people I know (“Exxonmobil”). If I discussed these issues with people who are involved with oil companies, I might be turned away as a “hippie,” but those who have seen emission reports would and have agreed with me. While this appearance of an environmentally conscious oil company may sway some, it is detrimental to the environment as more people fall for the idea of a lesser evil in one oil company over another rather than denouncing oil altogether. People are harmed when the oil industry participates in corporate greenwashing, and we have to watch these communities in order to help them.

Although corporate greenwashing in the oil industry is clearly an issue, it is still ongoing. Part of this can again be seen in Chevron’s “People Do” campaign. The environmental efforts advertised in this series were already required by law, but the average consumer does not know all of the laws that oil companies must abide by (Watson). This same idea is exasperated by the Environmental Health, Safety, and Sustainability (or EHS&S) guidelines. Originally, these guidelines meant to put actual action behind the words of the oil industry, eliminate misleading claims and therefore greenwashing, and making the companies more environmentally conscious (“About EHS&S — National Association For EHS&S Management”). Fairly easy to follow, these guidelines sadly do not do much to repair the environmental destruction that oil companies have caused, but if an oil company follows them, they can advertise that. In other words, these guidelines partially contribute to the oil industry’s corporate greenwashing. An issue that arises out of this is how to keep the oil industry from greenwashing when they are simply following the minimum guidelines. Until we solve this issue, oil corporations are still apt to greenwash in order to make themselves look more environmentally friendly, and, therefore, more marketable.

The oil industry has participated in corporate greenwashing for years in different ways while actively harming people in the process. They continue to do this in order to seem more environmentally friendly, but they do more harm than good. We must stay vigilant when analyzing the oil industry’s greenwashed ways in order to find a way to stop oil companies from misleading consumers.

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