Truthtelling
This interactive database tracks what the 100 largest onshore oil and gas producers in the United States are saying and doing about their methane emissions. Among the findings (as of March 2025):
EMPTY PROMISES & GREENWASHING
- Over half (56%) of these companies haven’t bothered to put forward a public goal for reducing their methane pollution.
- The levels of ambition vary considerably among those companies that do state their methane goals, baselines, and target years.
- Companies often deploy deceptive claims about becoming “net zero” or “near zero” producers.
- Despite all the company goals, advertising, and lofty claims about slashing emissions, total methane pollution from U.S. fossil fuel producers has actually increased since 2020. Modest “methane intensity” improvements are failing to overcome an increase in oil and gas production.
No goal. No plan.
92% of these companies do not have a goal to reduce their total emissions footprint (commonly referred to as including their Scope 3 emissions,) and almost none have credible near-term targets in line with global climate science consensus for staying on track to achieve the Paris Agreement goals.
Underestimated Damages.
Many companies’ goals appear to be based simply on leakage estimates calculated in spreadsheets rather than direct, real-world measurements. Emissions estimates like those reported to the EPA have routinely been shown to drastically undercount actual pollution.
No Accountability.
Less than 25% of top companies have agreed to participate in the United Nations Environment Programme’s Oil & Gas Methane Partnership 2.0 (OGMP 2.0), a measurement-based reporting framework for the oil and gas industry.
A History of Harm.
Over the last two decades and prior, these companies have amassed more than 2,900 environmental violations and have been forced to pay more than $44 billion in environmental penalties.
Real Evidence
Dozens of news stories, as well as field investigators like Earthworks, have compiled evidence and real-world footage documenting rampant pollution events.
Gas Producers are allowed to backslide.
Company goals are not legally binding. They are only relevant if the companies announcing them remain committed and take the actions necessary to achieve them. Yet backsliding on oil and gas corporate sustainability goals has been commonplace when markets shift or executives turnover. In March 2024, Shell walked back some of their near-term climate goals following a similar move by BP in 2023.
GAS PRODUCER CLAIMS
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