{"id":2713,"date":"2018-05-15T14:36:15","date_gmt":"2018-05-15T13:36:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.reading.ac.uk\/the-forum\/?p=2713"},"modified":"2021-11-03T13:57:52","modified_gmt":"2021-11-03T13:57:52","slug":"how-big-oil-distorts-climate-change-reality-with-tweaks-in-language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/2018\/05\/15\/how-big-oil-distorts-climate-change-reality-with-tweaks-in-language\/","title":{"rendered":"How Big Oil distorts climate change reality with tweaks in language"},"content":{"rendered":"

The language the oil industry uses to talk about climate change has altered over time as it\u00a0attempts to distance itself from culpability, says\u00a0linguistics specialist Dr\u00a0Sylvia Jaworska\u00a0in a new post for The Conversation.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Almost every climate scientist agrees human-caused climate change is a major global threat. Yet, despite efforts over the past 30 years to do something about it, emissions keep increasing.<\/p>\n

Any successful coordinated international response will require action from businesses. However, some organisations, especially those in sectors that significantly contribute to environmental degradation such as the oil industry, seem rather reluctant to embrace the challenge. Those climate initiatives they have embraced were more often than not prompted by\u00a0litigation risks<\/a>\u00a0or enforced by governmental policies rather than a result of an intrinsic \u201cgreen\u201d commitment.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the impression the industry likes to give off, of course, and it\u2019s no wonder oil companies\u2019 statements on corporate social responsibility and environmental reporting tend to highlight their greenest side. Yet the fact these documents give the oil firms the opportunity to\u00a0construct their own narrative<\/a>\u00a0means they are a useful source for my research in\u00a0applied linguistics<\/a>. When a huge volume of language is analysed, features and patterns can emerge that would be invisible to the casual human reader.<\/p>\n

My\u00a0latest study<\/a>\u00a0looked at the \u201cclimate change reality\u201d constructed by oil industry in its corporate reporting, what language was used to create this reality, and how this changed over time. This sort of analysis of language is important. Language not only mirrors the social world but\u00a0acts as a lens<\/a>\u00a0through which objects, situations and people are given meaning. Features and associations that are foregrounded can point to some level of significance, while what is kept in the background or not mentioned at all can highlight a lack of interest.<\/p>\n

This is why I used corpus-linguistic tools \u2013 essentially, using a computer to analyse vast amounts of text for certain patterns \u2013 to investigate nearly 500 corporate documents produced between 2000 and 2013 by major oil companies (including all the big names). This comprised some 14.8m words published in corporate social responsibility and environmental reports and relevant chapters in annual reports. That\u2019s a lot of words \u2013 roughly equivalent to 25 copies of\u00a0War and Peace<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Using software program Sketch Engine, I looked at how frequently the\u00a0key corporate terms<\/a>\u201cclimate change\u201d, \u201cgreenhouse effect\u201d, and \u201cglobal warming\u201d were used in each year to reveal how patterns of attention changed over time.<\/p>\n

My analysis shows that the most frequently adopted term in the studied sample is \u201cclimate change\u201d, while other terms such as \u201cglobal warming\u201d and \u201cgreenhouse effect\u201d are rarely used. The preference for \u201cclimate change\u201d and near absence of \u201cglobal warming\u201d reflects patterns observed in public and media discourse, too.<\/p>\n

The use of the term \u201cclimate change\u201d experienced peaks and troughs over time, with most mentions between 2004 and 2008, and fewer and fewer mentions since 2010. Less attention to climate change in public debates and overt anti-climate change attitudes on the parts of some governments in recent years might have contributed to the decline in attention given to climate change in corporate reporting.<\/p>\n

I then looked at words used alongside \u201cclimate change\u201d to gather clues as to the company\u2019s attitude towards it. This showed a significant change in the way it has been portrayed. In the mid-2000s, the most frequent associated terms were \u201ctackle\u201d, \u201ccombat\u201d and \u201cfight\u201d, showing climate change was seen as a phenomenon that something could be done about.<\/p>\n

However, in recent years, the corporate discourse has increasingly emphasised the notion of \u201crisks\u201d. Climate change is portrayed as an unpredictable agent \u201ccausing harm\u201d to the oil industry. The industry tends to present itself as a technological leader, but the measures it proposes to tackle climate change are mainly technological or market-based and thus firmly embedded within the corporate world\u2019s drive for profits. Meanwhile, social, ethical, or alternative solutions are largely absent.<\/p>\n

It seems that climate change has become an elusive concept that is losing its relevance even as an impression management strategy. The proactive stance of a decade earlier is now offset by a distancing strategy, often indicated through the use of qualifying words like \u201cpotential\u201d or \u201ceventual\u201d, which push the problem into the future or pass responsibility to others.<\/p>\n

In doing so, the discourse obscures the oil sector\u2019s large contribution to environmental degradation and \u201cgrooms\u201d the public to believe that the industry is serious about tackling climate change.<\/p>\n

This post was originally published on The Conversation, 11 May 2018<\/a>. Dr Sylvia Jaworska is Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Reading<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The language the oil industry uses to talk about climate change has altered over time as it\u00a0attempts to distance itself from culpability, says\u00a0linguistics specialist Dr\u00a0Sylvia Jaworska\u00a0in a new post for…Read More ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"__cvm_playback_settings":[],"__cvm_video_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1785],"tags":[73,189,632,870],"class_list":["post-2713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-agriculture-food-and-health","tag-applied-linguistics","tag-climate-change","tag-oil-industry","tag-the-conversation"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow Big Oil distorts climate change reality with tweaks in language - 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