As the electrification of transportation (and the shift to renewables) escalates, we can expect ‘Big Oil’ to fight to maintain our dependency on fossil fuel products. Their efforts will be in the form of legislative pressure (lobbying) to raise barriers against sustainability goals, and to increase dependency on fossil fuel (for transportation, electricity generation, plastic production, and heating). We can also expect messaging (media reports, advertising, ‘scientific’ papers) intended to sow confusion and doubt regarding climate change and the urgent need to curtail greenhouse gas emissions.

The following Electrek article offers an example of an oil company engaging in ‘astroturfing’ in order to push back on Arizona’s efforts to expand electric vehicle adoption. The company, Chevron, recently announced plans to install electric car chargers at the gas stations so this raises interesting questions.