Oil Giant BP Secretly Rigged Princeton’s Famous “Wedges” Climate Plan, Investigation Reveals
A landmark Princeton University study that made climate change seem easy to fix was secretly shaped by oil giant BP, according to a new investigation. The paper, published 22 years ago, gave the world a false sense that global warming could be solved without cutting fossil fuel production—because BP executives helped choose which solutions to include.
A joint investigation by ProPublica and Drilled has revealed that BP played a hidden role in shaping Princeton University’s famous “Wedges” climate plan [182282]. The 2004 study, which became a cornerstone of climate policy worldwide, divided the climate problem into seven “wedges,” each representing a strategy to cut carbon emissions. BP executives helped select which wedges to include, and the final paper highlighted solutions like renewable energy and efficiency while downplaying the need to leave oil and gas in the ground [182843].
The study offered a simple, hopeful story: humanity could stop global warming using existing technologies. But internal documents and interviews with former Princeton researchers and BP staff show that the company’s funding and input helped define the paper’s narrow focus on technology, avoiding deeper questions about reducing fossil fuel use [182843]. Critics say the BP-backed framework gave governments and corporations a false sense that climate change could be solved without challenging the fossil fuel industry’s core business [182843].
The revelation comes as TotalEnergies has been forced by a Paris court to publicly report the environmental damage caused by emissions from its oil and gas products, and to explain how it plans to reduce that damage [182282]. The court ruling is a major victory for climate activists who argue that fossil fuel companies have long hidden the full impact of their operations [182282].