NYT Climate Event Features Occidental Petroleum CEO, Talking About "Offsets", Producing More Oil & Gas [View all]
And yes, demonstrators interrupted the presentation.
NEW YORKVicki Hollub, the CEO of Occidental Petroleum, had barely stepped on stage for her interview at the New York Times Climate Forward event when an audience member leapt up into her path. You are not welcome here, he said. Tricky Vicki, you cant hide, we charge you with ecocide.
Hollub was quickly shepherded off the stage as a dozen other demonstrators with the direct-action organization Climate Defiance wearing suits jumped up to join the chant, and unfurl a banner that read DONT TRUST TRICKY VICKI, and two others that read LIAR and SNAKE OIL. Some Climate Forward attendees began clapping for the protesters, while others watched in silence or pulled out their phones to record it. There was little audible criticism of the action from the audience, although some attendees voiced annoyance or disappointment at not seeing Hollub speak as they exited and others said they had expected a protest.
EDIT
Hollub was invited to Climate Forward for an interview with David Gelles, managing editor of the Times Climate Forward newsletter, titled Can an oil company lower its emissions? The New York Times Climate Forward is a live journalism event designed to bring together influential newsmakers for rigorous and challenging interviews around climate change and political policy, wrote a Times spokesperson in an emailed statement. This afternoon, a small group briefly disrupted an on-stage session at Climate Forward. The last interview was streamed live, and a recording will be available on our website and events YouTube page.
In the recorded interview, Hollub responded to the protest. Here at Occidental we are working for solutions to the climate change situation that our world faces, she said. Its the greatest crisis that our world has ever faced and we have to come together to work on solutions for that and so, to me, to have those that are seeking headlines rather than solutions interrupt discussions that need to be had is a sad day for them, and I feel bad that they have nothing better to do with their time. Later in the interview, Hollub said that as long as companies are offsetting emissions, there is no reason to stop producing oil and gas until the resources themselves run out.
EDIT
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/26092024/activists-disrupt-occidental-petroleum-interview-at-new-york-times-climate-event/