If ever there was a “What’s your poison?” dilemma, this is it. First, history: Shell in Nigeria, Total in Burma… No brand gets off lightly…
Pumped up: choose an independent petrol station if you want to be an ethical motorist. Photograph: MBI /Alamy
Lucy Siegle: The Observer, Sunday 17 November 2013If ever there was a “What’s your poison?” dilemma, this is it. First, history: Shell in Nigeria, Total in Burma… No brand gets off lightly, but Exxon (merged with Mobil in 1999 to make the world’s largest oil company) is famous for its campaign to de-legitimise climate science, not least by funding the influential US lobbying group Global Climate Coalition (GCC).
Until the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe – the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico – BP had a better reputation. It withdrew from the GCC in 1996, accepted climate change in 1997, and spent the early 2000s investing in solar. Elf Aquitaine (later merged with Total) never contested climate change, but arguably hasn’t done much to help the planet either.