Activists call for EU ban on fossil fuel advertising
More than 20 environmental and climate groups launched a campaign Monday calling for a ban on fossil fuel advertising and sponsorship across the European Union, similar to bans on tobacco advertising.
More than 80 Greenpeace activists blocked the entrance to Shells oil refinery in the Dutch port of Rotterdam to draw attention to the launch of the European Citizens Initiative calling for the advertising ban.
The action comes less than a month before the start of the United Nations climate summit, COP26, in Glasgow. The 12-day summit aims to secure more ambitious commitments to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, with a goal of keeping it to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels.
Activists used floating cubes emblazoned with fossil fuel-linked advertisements to block the entrance, along with the protest ship Beluga, with the words Ban Fossil Fuel Advertising strung between its two masts. Activists also climbed a 15-meter (yard) oil tank and attached advertisement posters next to Shells logo.
I grew up reading signs about how cigarettes kill you, but never saw similar warnings in petrol stations or fuel tanks. Its frightening that my favorite sports and museums are sponsored by airlines and car companies,” Chaja Merk, an activist on board the Greenpeace ship, said in a statement released by the group. Fossil fuel adverts belong in a museum not sponsoring them.
Shell said the company is investing billions of dollars in lower-carbon energy. To help alter the mix of energy Shell sells, we need to grow these new businesses rapidly. That means letting our customers know through advertising or social media what lower-carbon solutions we offer now or are developing, so they can switch when the time is right for them.
Calls for fossil fuel advertising bans are gaining traction. Earlier this year, Amsterdam imposed a ban in the citys metro network on ads linked to what it called fossil products such as gas-powered cars and cheap airline tickets. The municipality called the move a first step in a wider move to remove such ads from the Dutch capitals streets.
The campaign for a law banning ads linked to fossil fuels across the EU needs to gather 1 million verified signatures in a year. If it succeeds, the EUs executive Commission has to look at the request, but is not obliged to take action.
This legislation would increase public awareness of products and technologies that are responsible for climate change and other environmental and health harms, the environmental coalition said on its website.
Coinciding with the launch, Greenpeaces Dutch branch published a report accusing major energy companies of large scale greenwashing in their advertising campaigns defining the term as as a combination of both fossil fuel companies advertisements promoting genuinely climate friendly initiatives, as well as their advertisements that promote false climate solutions as green.
The study analysed more than 3,000 ads on social media by six energy companies and concluded that 63 per cent amounted to greenwashing.
We can confidently say that all the companies in the dataset are greenwashing, as their advertisements do not accurately reflect their business activities either through an over-emphasis on their green activities, or an under-emphasis on their fossil fuel activities, the report said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)