Climate protesters interrupted Occidental Petroleum CEO Vicki Hollub at a conference hosted by the New York Times.
Hollub was about to begin a discussion with the newspaper’s David Gelles at the Climate Forward 2024 conference on Sept 25 when protesters walked onstage chanting, “We charge you with ecocide.” She briefly exited the stage before returning to conduct the interview.
Climate change is “the greatest crisis our world has ever faced and we have to come together to work on solutions for that,” Hollub said. “To have those that are seeking headlines, rather than solutions, interrupt discussions that need to be had — it’s a sad day for them and I feel bad that they have nothing better to do with their time.”
Occidental, one of the biggest US oil producers, is building the world’s biggest plant to pull carbon dioxide out of the air, helping to create a new carbon removal industry that could help the push toward net zero. But the plant has attracted the ire of some environmentalists because some of the carbon dioxide will be used to harvest more crude from wells in a process called enhanced oil recovery.
“I’m glad that we are continuing with this discussion because here at Occidental we are working for solutions to the climate change situation that our world faces,” she said. “I care about our planet, I care about the people that are impacted by climate change.”
