The UK Advertising Standards Authority seeks to limit all acts it deems greenwashing by multinational fossil fuel giants. Recent developments: has banned a large number of newspaper, television and street billboard advertisements from Shell, Repsol and Petronas International in the country for promoting investment in renewable energy without specifying the damaging scope of each of these companies’ polluting activities. .

The chief executive of the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority, Guy Parker, explained in interview with Bloomberg this morning that all companies belonging to the sector that generates the majority of the planet’s polluting emissions “should be very careful” with the advertising message they publish with an environmental patina: “They need to add some balance to their advertising.”

All campaigns audited by the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority emphasize the ambitions of oil companies in renewable energy. A television commercial aired in September for Petronas, Malaysia’s oil company, said it was “enriching lives for a sustainable future.” The watchdog said the advert failed to mention the company’s significant carbon emissions and misrepresented Petronas was having a positive impact.

This historic decision is expected to set a precedent for how energy companies promote their business and the public scrutiny that can be exercised on them from State power. “We understand that large-scale oil and gas investment and extraction is a large part of the company’s business model. [Shell] in 2022 and will continue to do so in the future. Therefore, we are confident that this announcement gives the general impression that a large part of Shell’s business consists of low-carbon energy products.” Advertising Standards Authority.

Repsol, according to the public body, “has a substantial oil and gas exploration strategy”, and the biofuels and synthetic fuels it is promoting in this year’s advertisement represent “a fraction of its commercial activity compared to its substantial activity, in course and expanding the production of fossil fuels” And in the same way, with the multinational Petronas: “The public will not understand the scope of Petronas’ significant and sustainable contribution to greenhouse gas emissions given the presentation [de los anuncios] and affirmations.