The announcement yesterday that 33 of the top companies in the world had promised to cut their emissions by 90% come 2050 looked to good to be true...It was.
BP and Shell both declared themselves to be supporters of the Washington-based Climate Action Partnership that supposedly issued the release and had it boldly listed on its web site. But both made clear last night they had made no such declaration and pointed out there were two identical internet portals but only one - the hoax site (which has now been suspended)- carried the bogus press release.
While the 90% cut seemed unbelievable and unachievable, it is a sign of the times that BP, Shell and even Greenpeace and The Guardian needed even one minute to decide whether it could be true or not.
Rising Tide later revealed that it was deliberately embarrassing Big Oil and Big Carbon by setting up the spoof site and press release.
A Rising Tide spokesman said: "To stablishe our climate, reductions need to be based on science, not on creating windfall profits for the world's largest polluters... corporate interests have stymied substantive action and are derailing genuine efforts of civil society to adequaltely address climate change".
The Yes Men are another group of carbonistas who use satire - and in their case impersonation - to shine a stronger light on those who most damage the environment.
Greenpeace itself has just released a humorous video to try to switch young men on to the whole climate change debate. That seems an excellent plan, but can one ever justify impersonation and hoax?
