Contribution short abstract

We analyze approximately 6 thousand novel internal documents to show how five U.S. and European fossil fuel firms use ‘low-carbon’ technologies, doublespeak, and political alliances to preserve fossil infrastructures, shape policy discourse, and obstruct a transformative energy transition.

Contribution long abstract

Fossil fuel companies face growing scrutiny for their role in accelerating climate change and have shifted from overt denial to portraying themselves as climate leaders. This paper examines how corporations deploy “low-carbon” technologies to legitimate continued fossil fuel production, deflect accountability, and extend existing sacrifice zones. Drawing on 6,479 internal documents obtained by the U.S. House Oversight Committee in 2021, we use a text-as-data approach combining Named Entity Recognition and semantic similarity algorithms with qualitative coding to trace how companies construct narratives, cultivate political and academic alliances, and respond to public pressure.

Our research uncovers four core dynamics. First, we reveal widespread corporate doublespeak by juxtaposing internal and external communications of five fossil fuel firms, showing stark misalignments between public climate claims and internal strategies. Second, we illustrate a recurring “plug-and-play” script through which companies promote CC(U)S, biofuels, hydrogen, and gas as interchangeable solutions that preserve fossil infrastructures. Third, we map the evolving network of actors, technologies, and geographies that fossil incumbents mobilize, identifying key collaborations and opposition across time. Fourth, we analyze climate policy documents to detect linguistic similarities with corporate discourse, demonstrating the discursive diffusion of industry narratives into policy-making arenas.

These findings demonstrate how speculative ‘low-carbon’ technologies function as false solutions that enable fossil fuel incumbents to maintain political influence and economic control while appearing to support decarbonisation. The analysis offers the first systematic juxtaposition of internal and external corporate communications alongside a examination of similarities between corporate and policy discourse.