API takes on Democrats’ climate plans in new TV campaign

WASHINGTON (Bloomberg) - The oil industry’s top lobbying group on Tuesday is launching a campaign to counter attacks from 2020 Democratic hopefuls vowing to phase out fossil fuels.

Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have called for banning fracking and curbing the use of fossil fuels as part of efforts to combat climate change. Other candidates have also outlined ambitious environmental plans.

The American Petroleum Institute will air advertisements that highlight the industry’s role in paring greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change while encouraging a truce in heated political debates over energy.

“We have different perspectives on the best way forward, but on issues that matter, like climate change, we’re more alike than we think,” one of the API advertisements intones over images of people hiking, jogging and commuting. “We want cleaner solutions, and that means working with each other.”

API representatives declined to detail the cost of the campaign, saying only it amounted to seven-figure spending. “No nation on earth has reduced annual carbon emissions more than we have,” API President Mike Sommers is set to say Tuesday in prepared remarks at the group’s “State of American Energy” event in Washington. “And we have the capacity, desire and grit to keep stepping up.”