There is a very simple reason why working with fossil fuel companies for climate justice will not work, and it is this… wait for it… they are fossil fuel companies. They exist to make money from selling fossil fuels. Their profits are dependent on our continuing to use a multi-trillion dollar fossil fuel infrastructure that allows fossil fuel companies to make trillions of more dollars from the use of fossil fuels.

All of the fossil fuel PR campaigns about investments and research in clean and renewable energy belie the fact that they are working forcefully behind the scenes to promote public policies that will allow them to fully exploit all of the trillions of dollars of fossil fuel assets that are still in the ground. They continue to spend billions of dollars on political influence to insure trillions of dollars of economic gain – all the while knowing full well that our continued use of fossil fuels is hurling human civilization towards climate chaos. Their lack of collective action to address the climate crisis is not owing to ignorance; it is owing to greed.

None of this should surprise us. Over and over again we have seen industries lie about the social and environmental costs of their practices for the sake of profit. They lied about tobacco, they lied about DDT, they lied about lead, they lied about the toxicity of many other chemicals, and now they are lying about fossil fuels.

While it comes as no surprise that a multi-trillion dollar fossil fuel industry would continue to lie about the impact of fossil fuel use on our climate in order to make trillions of more dollars from their continued use; it is surprising that some still seem to believe that fossil fuel companies can actually be a trusted partner in solving the climate crisis. And it comes as an even greater surprise that entities like The United Methodist Church continue perpetuate this naive perspective by investing tens of millions of dollars in fossil fuel companies with the belief that investing in these companies gives The United Methodist Church a seat at the table to influence their practices.

The continued investment in fossil fuel companies by churches like The United Methodist Church does almost nothing to change the core practices of fossil fuel companies, but it does give them “moral cover” to basically say, “How can we be so bad if The United Methodist Church sees us as a partner, has a seat at our table, and is investing tens of millions of dollars in our companies?” In short, the fossil fuel companies use their “business relationships” and conversations with The United Methodist Church as a way of greenwashing their core practices that in reality are destroying a livable climate for human civilization and much of life on earth. To make matters worse, The United Methodist Church is making money from investing in these life destroying practices. One would not be exaggerating to call it “death money” in that The United Methodist Church is profiting from practices that we know will lead to billions of deaths over time.

If one needs a practical example of why working with fossil fuel companies to solve the climate crisis will not work, one need only look at my home state of Oklahoma. While the world is experiencing the warmest year on record, while we surpassed the 2°C mark over the preindustrial baseline global temperature for the first time ever, while Canada burned and half of the United States breathed in the toxic air, and while the fifth National Climate Assessment states that the climate crisis is already creating an annual $150 billion hit to the U.S. economy; Oklahoma’s fossil fuel companies, many of which are included within The United Methodist Church’s stock portfolio, are spending money through the Oklahoma Energy Resources Board on a series of PR videos with Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs fame lauding the importance of the fossil fuel industry in Oklahoma while completely ignoring the reality of the climate crisis. As the historian of science Naomi Oreskes’ research has shown in great detail, the fossil fuel companies continue their role as merchants of doubt, sowing seeds of doubt through misinformation and disinformation to delay any meaningful action to address the climate crisis.

Behind the scenes, these same companies do all within their power to protect their financial interests and their continued exploitation of fossil fuels. The United Methodist Church’s seat at their tables is doing very little to change their core practices and their efforts to sway public policy in their favor. They may make promises to change their own use of energy and to make relatively minuscule investments in clean energy research and development, but all the while they continue to block actual systemic changes that would put our use of fossil fuel behind us in the hope of preserving a livable climate.

Fossil fuel companies will not change their behavior by having The United Methodist Church at their tables and making money off of their life-destroying practices. Their practices will only be changed through our collective political will to regulate the fossil fuel industry and to make the bold systemic shift away from fossil fuels that the fierce urgency of the climate crisis calls us to make.