The Long-Running Myth of “Clean” Natural Gas

A newly released report, compiled from recently uncovered documents, confidential memos and expert interviews, concludes that the natural-gas sector deliberately marketed the fuel as climate-friendly despite internal knowledge of its harmful methane emissions. The analysis finds that industry executives were aware as early as 1968—when a study commissioned by the American Petroleum Institute linked methane leakage from oil fields and gas-distribution systems to atmospheric warming—that methane is a potent climate pollutant.

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The report details a coordinated campaign by the American Gas Association (AGA) and affiliated public-relations firms to portray natural gas as “cleaner than coal” and “virtually emission-free.” Throughout the 1990s, the industry supplied data for an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) study that labeled natural gas a low-emission “bridge fuel.” Subsequent research showed the EPA analysis vastly underestimated actual methane releases, but the industry continued to cite the study to support its green-energy narrative. In parallel, the sector created its own research institute to fund studies that emphasized scientific uncertainty and downplayed the link between methane and climate change.

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A poll conducted by the Center for Climate Integrity (CCI) in partnership with Data for Progress indicates that half of likely voters still regard natural gas as a form of “clean energy.” This persistent belief underscores the effectiveness of the long-standing messaging campaign.

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Richard Wiles, president of CCI, argues that the “fraud of clean natural gas” has been central to the industry’s market expansion over the past two decades. He contends that officials who continue to promote natural gas as climate-safe are repeating the same scripted, manipulated science devised by gas executives and their PR teams. The Center for Climate Integrity has called for fossil-fuel companies to compensate the public for decades of deception that it says have contributed to the climate crisis.

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• “Officials who continue to justify expanding natural gas reliance by still claiming it’s clean or safe for the climate are using the same script and manipulated science that gas executives and their PR teams concocted decades ago,” — Richard Wiles, president of CCI

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