The Counter: strengthening the fight for climate justice around the world

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Written by: Luis Scungio

Written by: Maria Hengeveld

Published on: 15 November 2024

In the last decade, the climate justice movement has powerfully and creatively exposed the tactics that fossil fuel companies and other big polluters have historically used to thwart climate action. Big Oil’s lobbying and misinformation campaigns in the late 20^th century are now the subject of movies(opens in new window) , exposés(opens in new window) and investigative reports(opens in new window) . Yet evidence of how corporations continue to obstruct a just energy transition today is much harder to come by. At The Counter – SOMO’s free and global corporate research helpdesk for activists fighting corporate power– we get a good sense of the information barriers environmental activists and climate justice groups run into when they investigate corporate harm.

Since the founding of The Counter in September 2023, over 30% of all incoming requests have been related to the climate crisis. From corporate-driven land grabs in Latin America and shady ‘carbon offsetting’ businesses in Africa to harmful agribusinesses destroying livelihoods in Southeast Asia, each request has a different topic and context. But they all face the same challenge of secrecy and information gaps when investigating corporate structures, owners, finances and supply chains. In this blog post, we present some examples of how The Counter helps break down this information barrier so activists are better equipped with data, evidence, and analyses when standing up to corporate giants.

Looking at the books of Big Oil

Climate breakdown can only be averted if we radically phase out the use of coal, oil and gas in our energy systems. While many large polluters rhetorically embrace this goal, the absence of mandatory targets and effective regulation means that it is largely left to civil society to hold companies accountable for their vague decarbonisation plans. Activists are increasingly turning to The Counter for support with this vital work.

In one case, a European advocacy network asked The Counter to investigate how the clean energy commitments of three European oil giants – in particular, their ‘voluntary’ shift from fossil fuels to renewables – stack up against the evidence. Digging into the financial records of these firms, The Counter found that they invested between three and ten times more resources in oil and gas expansion than in low-carbon technologies. Such allocation of resources is clearly at odds with the professed ‘green commitments’ of each of the three oil giants. Our findings informed and bolstered the network’s position that EU member states should tax the profits of fossil fuel companies and scale up public investments in energy transition plans.

Big oil was also the topic of a request by a West African NGO, which reached out when their research into a major national company hit a dead end. The researchers knew the company was planning to explore new oil and gas fields but could not work out who its financiers were. Using industry reports and subscription databases, we discovered that various European and multilateral financial institutions, in collaboration with powerful local banks, had provided loans to the company. These findings energised the NGO’s campaign for more transparency and accountability in the country’s petroleum sector.

In another example, a local NGO from East Asia asked The Counter to look into claims made by a producer of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) about its purported successful adoption of new carbon reduction technologies. By investigating the company’s decarbonisation outlook vis-à-vis its historic carbon emissions, we found that far from advancing a low-carbon future, the planned technologies would allow the company to expand gas extraction while claiming to be carbon neutral in its operations. The group intends to leverage this information to enhance their advocacy and expose several actors who are involved in the practices of exploitation and dispossession in the name of just transition.

Investigating supply chains of electric vehicles

Civil society groups have long warned that the booming demand for lithium, nickel and cobalt – which are essential in the production of electric vehicles – is exacerbating environmental damage and human rights abuses in the places where these minerals are mined and processed. These concerns are a recurring theme at The Counter.

In one case, a local organisation asked us to help them map the supply chain of nickel mines linked to widespread health problems for the population of a remote island in Southeast Asia. A critical aspect of this investigation was to assess where the raw nickel was processed. Using photographs of vessels loading nickel dust at the island’s main pier, satellite imagery, and ship-based coastal tracking systems, we tracked the ships’ route to a nickel processing facility on a large island nearby. Follow-up research revealed that this facility sold products to battery and electric vehicle companies in China, Europe, and North America.

In a similar case of nickel mining, The Counter was asked to identify buyers and investors of a nickel mining project accused of causing biodiversity loss and human rights violations. By comparing corporate disclosures with export data, we identified prominent investors and buyers in France, China and Australia. This information provided new targets for the group’s campaign to block the mining project and seek redress for suffered abuses.

Supporting Indigenous Peoples defend their forests

Concerns around forest loss came up time and again in requests we received. Most requests came from Latin America and Africa, where corporate-led land grabs are causing displacement, water contamination, biodiversity loss and other problems. In one such case, a civil society coalition from South America asked The Counter to identify the decision makers of two agribusinesses responsible for the destruction of forests on which indigenous communities relied. By digging through corporate disclosures and datasets from subscription databases, we discovered that politically well-connected businessmen in Europe were among the directors of these companies. These findings offered the coalition new opportunities to campaign against the ongoing violations of people’s rights.

At a time when right-wing parties and corporate interests are taking hold of power around the world, our collective fight for a just and green world has never been more urgent. A fight that can’t be won without access to facts and evidence. Whenever you need information about corporate climate abuses, submit your request to The Counter here.