A Dozen Strategies for the Struggle With Big Oil
Originally published on Legal Planet. Reposted by permission.
The oil industry is enormous – something like 2 to 3 percent of global GDP. Individuals firms like ExxonMobil earn tens of billions of dollars each quarter. Controlling climate change will mean drastic curtailment in the coming decades of the industry’s major products. There’s no way that the industry will accept this lying down, and it’s a formidable opponent. To be successful, we will need a combination of strategies, aside from the rightness of our cause. There’s no doubt that there will be major battles with the industry. The question is only whether we can strengthen the forces on our side or reduce the stakes for the industry now and then. Here are some strategies of both types.
- Expand transparency. Most obviously, everything that undermines the political clout of oil companies is good. That means more investigations of how they exercise political influence and of their manipulation of public opinion, such as the state of New York has already begun. Other activities, such as the efforts of activist shareholders, are also desirable.
- Adapt strategies from the coal realm. The decline of the coal industry isn’t just due to …
- 1 (current)
