Exxon’s $600 Million Dollar Lie

We’re cracking open Exxon’s favorite myth that they’re coming to save the climate with algae-based biofuel…any day now.

Sources & Citations

Citations reference first appearance, without repeating for subsequent usage:

• The Guardian: BP oil spill: death and devastation - an it’s just the start (2010)

• The New York Times: Lessons From the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill (2013)

• The New York Times: Exxon Misled the Public on Climate Change, Study Says (2017)

• The Guardian: Big oil and gas kept a dirty secret for decades. Now they may pay the price (2021)

• News18: What’s Aura Farming? Gen Z’s Newest Obsession (2025)

• CNN: Big oil companies are spending millions to appear ‘green.’ Their investments tell a different story, report shows (2022)

• Environment America: New study finds carbon capture ineffective and costly compared to investing in renewable energy (2025)

• Bloomberg: Global Warming: Is There Still Room For Doubt? (1997)

• BBC: How the oil industry made us doubt climate change (2020)

• ABC News: Oil: Exxon Chairman’s $400 Million Parachute (2006)

• The New York Times: Corn Farmers Smile as Ethanol Prices Rise, but Experts on Food Supplies Worry (2006)

• The New York Times: It’s Corn vs. Soybeans in a Biofuels Debate (2006)

• The New York Times: Toxic Red Tide Kills ‘Uncountable’ Numbers of Fish in the Bay Area (2022)

• The New York Times: Exxon to Invest Millions to Make Fuel From Algae (2009)

• Fast Company: Shell Ditches Algae Biofuel (2011)

• The Guardian: BP dropped green energy projects worth billions to focus on fossil fuels (2015)

• Factor This: Oil Firms Break Promise on Biofuels as Chevron Defies California (2013)

• MIT Technology Review: Exxon Takes Algae Fuel Back to the Drawing Board (2013)

• Bloomberg: Exxon Retreats from Major Climate Effort to Make Biofuels From Algae (2023)

• Reuters: Exxon, Chevron top Q3 profit expectations as US oil output hits record high (2024)

• Congress of the United States: House of Representatives: Memorandum (September 14, 2022)

• House Committee on Oversight and Accountability: Denial, Disinformation and Doublespeak: Big Oil’s Evolving Efforts to Avoid Accountability on Climate Change (2024)

• ExxonMobil: ExxonMobil outlines aggressive growth plans to more than double earnings (2018)

• Springer Nature: Life cycle assessment of microalgae-derived biodiesel (2023)

• Yale Environment 360: Algae-Based Biofuel May Have Bigger Carbon Footprint Than Diesel, Analysis Shows (2023)

• The Guardian: Big oil firms touted algae as climate solution. Now all have pulled funding (2023)

• Clean Technica: Exxon Shuts Down Algae Fuel Research Program (2023)

• ABC News: Exxon Mobil must face environmental allegations, court rules (2022)

• Commonwealth of Massachusetts: Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Exxon Mobil Corporation: OPPOSITION OF THE COMMONWEALTH TO EXXONMOBIL’S MOTION

• TO DISMISS THE COMMONWEALTH’S AMENDED COMPLAINT

• Nature: The “Future of Energy”? Building resilience to ExxonMobil’s disinformation through disclosures and inoculation (2025)

• Reuters: Exxon posts strongest results since 2017, vows to resume share buybacks (2021)

Episode Credits

Creator/Host: Rollie Williams

Writers: Rollie Williams, Matt Nelsen & Irene Plagianos

Director: Matt Nelsen

Editors: Rollie Williams, Ryan Brown & Paul Ramsdell

Executive Producers: Rollie Williams, Matt Nelsen, Ben Boult, & Daniella Philipson

Cinematography: Ben Boult

Producer: Daniella Philipson, Miranda Manganaro & Irene Plagianos

Additional Cinematography: Matt Nelsen

Colorist: Nicholas Lareau

Intro Animator: Ian MK Cessna (https://ianhasawebsite.com/) 

Theme music by: Gratis (https://www.youtube.com/@gratis3241)

Special thanks: Robert Brulle, Sarah Chow & Amy Westervelt

Special thanks to the Civil Liberties Defense Center (https://cldc.org/) for their continued support.

Copyright Climate Town 2025. All rights reserved.