Polluter’s greenwash “backfires spectacularly”

Climate change became news 30 years ago. 

 At Aggregate Industries, CO2 emissions were – at the last count – still rising.

Clearly, as demonstrated by its bonkers multi-million mile haulage plan for Straitgate Farm, Aggregate Industries expects others to do the heavy lifting of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. 

Claims that "#sustainability is at the heart of our business, and is incorporated in all of our operations... 🌍" seemingly don’t apply in the county of Devon, or to the company's CO2 emissions.  

Shell – another company responsible for our climate crisis – seems to suffer similar delusions. Many companies – cement giant, major CO2 emitter and Aggregate Industries' parent LafargeHolcim included – are now trying desperately to greenwash their operations. This story shows there’s only so much greenwash that polluters can pump out before it can all backfire spectacularly:

What am I willing to do? Hold you accountable for 2% of cumulative global GHG emissions, equivalent to those of my entire home country of Canada. When you have a concrete plan to address that, I'd be happy to chat about what I'm doing to reduce my personal emissions.

— Prof. Katharine Hayhoe (@KHayhoe) November 2, 2020

Are you out of your minds?? How about what are YOU doing about it? Act like it's my personal actions rather than the people who have been lying, polluting, and blocking clean energy since before I was born. A$$holes.

— Sara (@sawalvea) November 3, 2020

I’m willing to hold you accountable for lying about climate change for 30 years when you secretly knew the entire time that fossil fuels emissions would destroy our planet 😇 https://t.co/ekj1Va1Cp0

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 2, 2020

I don’t know about you, but I sure am willing to call-out-the-fossil-fuel-companies-for-knowingly-destroying-future-living-conditions -for-countless-generations-for profit-and-then-trying-to-distract-people-and-prevent-real-systemic-change-through-endless greenwash-campaigns. https://t.co/O3ReJPv81Q

— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) November 2, 2020

FUCK YOU for permanently destroying our planet and gaslighting us all the while. You had your chance to be part of the solution. Now we're doing everything we can to put you out of business and send your executives to prison and we won't stop. pic.twitter.com/Fmp61ceoOl

— Peter Kalmus (@ClimateHuman) November 2, 2020