March 25, 2021

350.org on American Petroleum Institute Support for Carbon Pricing

Washington D.C. – Today, the oil and gas industry’s largest trade group, the American Petroleum Institute, endorsed a price on carbon emissions. The move comes as President Biden prepares to unveil a sweeping infrastructure proposal focusing on curbing carbon emissions and transitioning to renewable energy. Fossil fuel corporations such as ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips, along with the API, have signaled support for market-based carbon pricing.

In response, 350.org Policy Director Natalie Mebane made the following statement:

“The American Petroleum Institute and fossil fuel executives have knowingly lied and deceived the public about the devastating impacts that burning coal, oil, and gas has on our climate for decades. Now at the 11th hour, while our communities reel from climate impact after climate impact, they are endorsing a false solution. This is yet another greenwashing tactic wielded by the fossil fuel industry to distract from their disproportionate responsibility for the climate crisis.

“Carbon pricing is not a primary solution to the climate crisis. In fact, fossil fuel corporations like Exxon, BP, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips must pay for the damage they’ve done to people and the planet. In order to truly combat this crisis, federal support for the oil and gas industry and all new fossil fuel projects must stop immediately and we must create millions of new clean energy jobs, while leading a just transition to an equitable future.”

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