Big Oil

Conspiracy theorists claim that the big oil companies (Big Oil) are deliberately suppressing progress and the spread of alternative energy sources in order to protect their own profits and monopoly position. On the one hand, they would deliberately block or buy up innovative technologies. On the other hand, they would bribe politicians on a grand scale in order to maintain their environ- mentally damaging practices. In the eyes of these conspiracy theorists, even the well-known climate activist Greta Thunberg is merely a PR figure set up by the oil industry (as a type of false-flag operation) to manipulate public opinion. While it is a fact that the big oil companies have been involved in numerous questionable activities and scandals, the Greta thesis seems rather far-fetched.