Corey Riday-White (he/him) is a Managing Attorney, and Jordan McNamara (he/him) is a Staff Attorney at the Center for Climate Integrity. They advocate for strategies to hold Big Oil and petrochemical companies accountable for deceiving the public about their central role in the climate and plastic waste crises. Their work focuses on exposing industry disinformation and supporting efforts to make polluters—not taxpayers—pay for the damage they’ve caused.
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Big Oil's Failed and False Solutions
Big Oil knew single-use plastics would overwhelm the planet, just as they knew fossil fuels would drive climate change. However, while they denied the climate crisis outright, the plastic waste crisis was undeniable and required a different approach: selling recycling as a false solution.
Today, the industry is using the same playbook to promote “clean” natural gas, carbon capture, and “advanced recycling” — strategies that do little to address the crises they created, while sustaining fossil fuel dependence. Petrochemical companies don’t need these efforts to be effective, they only need for the public to believe that they are.
This presentation exposes Big Oil's deceptive marketing campaigns, past and present, and underscores the urgent need for accountability.