Is anyone else annoyed by fossil fuel companies advertising how green they are?

I admit that I get really irritated when I hear the ads from fossil fuel companies claiming that they are engaging in all these activities for a sustainable future. Ones like carbon capture and storage have not come close to meeting the need and others like hydrogen pipelines serve to maintain fossil fuel infrastructure “in the meantime.” This makes it possible to delay transition, especially as many of the projects receive government subsidies. I’m not the only one questioning these “green transition” projects and promotion.

Llavero-Pasquina and colleagues (2025) looked into how fossil fuel companies market false solutions to keep their power through the energy transition. The false solutions include technologies like biofuels, green hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, and carbon offsets. By focusing on these, the researchers found that companies are able to pitch themselves as part of the solution. This effectively extends the fossil fuel integration and dependence and limits the socio-political pressures for systemic change.

In addition to the climate impacts of this delay, environmental conflicts and injustices that arise from the current extractive model are maintained. This has implications for the health and wellbeing of people and planet.