ConocoPhillips
Our analysis reveals how ConocoPhillips’ climate plans fail to align with international commitments to phase out fossil fuels and to limit global temperature rise to 1.5ºC.
How does ConocoPhillips stack up?
We analyzed ConocoPhillips’ climate and sustainability pledges and plans on ten criteria across ambition, integrity, and people-centered transitions, representing minimum baselines for potential alignment with the Paris Agreement. ConocoPhillips’ climate pledges and plans are “Grossly Insufficient” on all ten criteria.
Table Key
- Grossly insufficient
- Insufficient
- Partially aligned
- Close to aligned
- Fully aligned
AMBITION
INTEGRITY
PEOPLE-CENTERED TRANSITIONS
ConocoPhillips
Our analysis reveals how ConocoPhillips’ climate plans fail to align with international commitments to phase out fossil fuels and to limit global temperature rise to 1.5ºC.
Stop exploration
Grossly insufficient
Stop approving new extraction projects
Grossly insufficient
Decline oil and gas production year-on-year to 2030
Grossly insufficient
Set explicit end-date for oil and gas extraction and long-term production phaseout plan, aligned with 1.5°C
Grossly insufficient
Grossly insufficient
Grossly insufficient
Grossly insufficient
Grossly insufficient
Set absolute target(s) to reduce all its greenhouse gas emissions, including value chain emissions
Grossly insufficient
Do not rely on carbon sequestration or offsets
Grossly insufficient
Pursue methane reductions that serve climate goals, not greenwashing
Grossly insufficient
End lobbying and ads that obstruct climate solutions
Grossly insufficient
Grossly insufficient
Grossly insufficient
Grossly insufficient
Grossly insufficient
Support and fund just transitions for workers and communities where it operates
Grossly insufficient
Uphold human rights and Indigenous Peoples’ rights, including to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent
Grossly insufficient
Grossly insufficient
Grossly insufficient
Stop exploration
Stop approving new extraction projects
Decline oil and gas production year-on-year to 2030
Set explicit end-date for oil and gas extraction and long-term production phaseout plan, aligned with 1.5°C
Set absolute target(s) to reduce all its greenhouse gas emissions, including value chain emissions
Do not rely on carbon sequestration or offsets
Pursue methane reductions that serve climate goals, not greenwashing
End lobbying and ads that obstruct climate solutions
Support and fund just transitions for workers and communities where it operates
Uphold human rights and Indigenous Peoples’ rights, including to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent
Grossly insufficient
Grossly insufficient
Grossly insufficient
Grossly insufficient
Grossly insufficient
Grossly insufficient
Grossly insufficient
Grossly insufficient
Grossly insufficient
Grossly insufficient
Ambition: Drilling for More Oil and Gas
ConocoPhillips does not have a date set to stop exploration, stop approving new extraction projects, or end oil and gas production. ConocoPhillips has not set a rapidly declining fossil fuel production target, and therefore its plans are dangerously out of step with climate goals.
Despite the reality of the climate crisis, as of April 2023, ConocoPhillips expressly aims to grow production by four to five percent per year through 2032. In 2023, the company approved the construction of the massive new Willow oil project in the U.S. state of Alaska, and pursued liquefied fossil gas expansion plans.
It’s unthinkable to approve any new fossil fuel development when the majority of oil, gas, and coal in existing fields and mines must stay underground to keep warming to globally agreed limits.
Historical Responsibility
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5 th
ConocoPhillips' Rank
for most cumulative climate pollution in history among ALL investor-owned companies.
Source: Carbon Majors
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22.2 billion
Tonnes of CO2e Pollution
linked to ConocoPhillips’ fossil fuel production since the 1920s.
Source: Carbon Majors
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$ 500 billion
Amount ConocoPhillips Would Owe
if the company were held partially accountable for the climate loss and damages caused by its pollution since 1985 alone.
Source: Climate Analytics
ConocoPhillips chairman and CEO, Ryan Lance"We know we've got to make gas more than just a bridge fuel, but a fuel that will be used long into the future."
Integrity: Failing Climate Targets
Do ConocoPhillips’ actions add up to a credible pathway to 1.5°C?
ConocoPhillips has not set any target to reduce its total emissions.
Under ConocoPhillips’ existing plans, the company’s climate pollution could continue increasing indefinitely. ConocoPhillips’ only long-term emissions reduction pledge, which the company calls an “ambition,” is a smokescreen: It does not cover over 90 percent of the company’s reported emissions as of 2022.
To meet its climate targets, ConocoPhillips plans to rely on the ‘net’ in ‘net zero’ – pursuing investments in CCS and carbon offsets, which may prolong the life of fossil fuels, have a long track record of failure, and perpetuate injustice. Instead, oil and gas companies should take responsibility for reducing their oil and gas extraction and sales as rapidly as possible.
Meanwhile, there is evidence that ConocoPhillips is lobbying against climate action, greenwashing, and otherwise maneuvering to undermine the energy transition.
At a glance
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0.0
ConocoPhillips’ grade on climate policy
Based on the company’s track record of actively lobbying against climate action and for pro-fossil fuel policies.
Source: Influence Map
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13
Industry associations lobbying against climate action
ConocoPhillips is a member of 13 industry associations that are “Misaligned” on climate policy as of May 2024.
Source: Influence Map
People-Centered Transitions: Inadequately Preparing
While many companies have co-opted the language of ‘just transition’ from labor and climate justice movements in recent years, ConocoPhillips rates “Grossly Insufficient” on its real-world just transition plans and on upholding human rights.
Independent analysis confirms that ConocoPhillips has severely inadequate policies to support and fund just transitions for workers and communities, or to uphold human rights and Indigenous Peoples’ rights. The company’s “Just Transition Position” comprises only two paragraphs and three bullet points, and includes no meaningful reference to recognized just transition principles.
Further, ConocoPhillips’ human rights materials appear not to even mention Indigenous Peoples’ right to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent.
Indigenous Iñupiat communities in Alaska
Members of Indigenous Iñupiat communities have been fighting ConocoPhillips’ Willow project on Alaska’s North Slope for years. Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic (SILA) is one of several groups suing the U.S. Biden administration to halt the project.