GREENWASHING ON GOOGLE

The Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) reports that between September 2020 and August 2022, five major oil companies—BP, ExxonMobil, Shell, Aramco, and Chevron—spent $23.7 million on US Google Search ads, with $10.9 million dedicated to greenwashing. The report highlights a discrepancy between these companies' public sustainability claims and their internal documents, while also noting that Google continued to accept $421,000 from the Competitive Enterprise Institute for climate denial ads despite promising to stop doing so.

• Between September 1, 2020, and August 31, 2022, five of the world's largest oil and gas companies—BP, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, and Aramco—spent a total of $23.7 million on US Google Search ads.
• Of the total ad spend, $10.9 million was used for greenwashing ads, which were viewed an estimated 58.6 million times by US users. This included $1.8 million targeting greenhouse gas queries, $1.7 million for renewables, and $1.2 million for carbon offsets.
• BP was the highest spender on greenwashing ads among the studied companies, investing $5.3 million over two years, which represented nearly 55% of its total Google search ad expenditure.
• ExxonMobil spent nearly $4 million on greenwashing ads, including $144,904 targeting queries about the Paris Agreement, despite internal planning documents suggesting emissions would exceed the treaty's goals.
• Shell spent approximately $1.2 million on greenwashing ads, including $181,784 on the query “net zero company”, while internal documents state that net-zero is “not a Shell business plan”.
• Saudi Aramco spent $317,710 on greenwashing ads, representing nearly 74% of its total Google ad spend, including ads claiming it is one of the industry's lowest carbon emitters.
• Chevron spent $112,854 on greenwashing ads, the lowest share among the five companies at 3.6% of its total Google Search ad spend.
• Google accepted $421,000 from the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) for ads promoting climate denial, such as claims that “fossil fuels make the planet safer”, violating Google's October 2021 promise to prohibit such content.

APA

Climate Action Against Disinformation (2022). GREENWASHING ON GOOGLE. https://caad.info/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Greenwashing-on-Google_Final-Report.pdf

Chicago

Climate Action Against Disinformation. GREENWASHING ON GOOGLE. 2022. https://caad.info/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Greenwashing-on-Google_Final-Report.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate Action Against Disinformation |title=GREENWASHING ON GOOGLE |date=3 November 2022 |url=https://caad.info/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Greenwashing-on-Google_Final-Report.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climateactionagainstdisinformation2022greenwashing, author = {{Climate Action Against Disinformation}}, title = {{GREENWASHING ON GOOGLE}}, institution = {Climate Action Against Disinformation}, year = {2022}, month = nov, url = {https://caad.info/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Greenwashing-on-Google_Final-Report.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }