Description
The fossil fuel sector has known for decades it is directly driving climate change. Instead of raising the alarm, major oil and gas companies have worked to prevent the scientific evidence from affecting their business – initially through denying or casting doubt on the evidence, then by seeking to distract attention from their harms, and delay measures to move away from fossil fuels.
One of their methods is greenwashing: marketing that gives the impression the companies are acting for the good of the climate, while their overall business remains linked to dangerous levels of greenhouse gas emissions (see box below). But this year conditions in the UK are different.
In September 2021, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) – the UK’s regulator for competition and consumer protection – launched the Green Claims Code. The Code helps businesses understand how to communicate environmental credentials without misleading consumers. Its launch ‘[put] businesses on notice’ for greenwashing, giving them until the start of 2022 to align with consumer law, before beginning a review of misleading green claims and taking appropriate action.
One year later, Global Witness has analysed Shell and BP’s ads on Facebook and Instagram in the UK and their Twitter image posts to assess whether the companies have followed the Green Claims Code. Their analysis builds on previous research documenting fossil fuel greenwashing on social media and shows how BP and Shell have kept up their greenwashing ads despite the regulator’s intervention. The report lays out a summary of our key findings, and present the evidence behind each finding in the following sections.
Find the report here.
