In South Africa’s first greenwashing complaint, Fossil Free South Africa has successfully claimed that certain TotalEnergies’ advertisements contained misleading statements regarding its commitment to “sustainable development”. Through its Fossil Ad Ban program, Fossil Free South Africa challenges fossil fuel advertising. This complaint, which is the first of its kind in South Africa, was filed by Fossil Ad Ban because “marketing and PR are a core tactic that fossil fuel companies use to gain the social licence to keep destroying our planet”.
Greenwashing Complaint Against TotalEnergies
In an announcement about a partnership with SANParks, the body responsible for managing South Africa’s national parks, TotalEnergies stated to be “committed to sustainable development and environmental protection”. According to Fossil Ad Ban, this statement was “completely false and misleading” and constitutes greenwashing. In support of this argument, Fossil Ad Ban cites TotalEnergies substantial contributions to dangerous climate change, its continued oil and gas explorations, and its stake in the East African Crude Oil Pipeline Project, which is projected to displace more than 100,000 people from Uganda and surrounding countries and to have an adverse climate impact.
In its response, TotalEnergies put forward several arguments, including that the disputed statement is part of corporate communication, and therefore cannot be understood as an advertisement. Additionally, the company argues the statement is not false or misleading, since it is “grounded in the Company’s general strategy and policies”. The general strategies and policies referred to include its use of renewables, biogas, hydrogen, liquified natural gas, carbon capture and storage solutions, and more. TotalEnergies also highlights several other sustainable programs in which it participates. Overall, the company argues that its current commitments and activities put it on the path to achieving net zero by 2050.
TotalEnergies also denies the adverse impact of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline Project, arguing the figure of displaced individuals will be limited to 5,000, who will be rehoused. On the matter of the project’s climate impact, TotalEnergies focuses on the fact that the project would not emit as much greenhouse gases as comparable projects and that it will implement other solutions to limit emissions. In doing so, the company seemingly disregards the International Energy Agency’s findings that “no new fossil fuel extraction projects are needed in the transition to net zero emissions by 2050”.
What is the South Africa Advertising Regulatory Board?
The ARB is the body administering the South African Code of Advertising Practice. It is a self-regulating organisation operating to protect South African consumers through upholding certain standards in advertising. Its decisions are binding on members of the ARB but cannot be directly imposed on non-members.
The Code of Advertising Practice consists of a procedural guide and four key sections setting out the rules and requirements for advertisements in South Africa. Specifically, Section II contains the general principles members need to comply with. These principles address concepts such as honest, truthfulness, comparisons, and more.
For the Fossil Ad Ban complaint against TotalEnergies, the following two principles were deemed relevant:
Clause 2 – Honesty.
“Advertisements should not be so framed as to abuse the trust of the consumer or exploit their lack of experience, knowledge or credulity”.
Clause 4.2.1 – Misleading Claims.
“Advertisements should not contain any statement or visual presentation which, directly or by implication, omission, ambiguity, inaccuracy, exaggerated claim or otherwise, is likely to mislead the consumer”.
TotalEnergies’ Engaged in Greenwashing
TotalEnergies is not a member of the ARB, which therefore lacks jurisdiction to directly address the advertisement in question. However, the ARB has capacity to providing binding decisions on its members, which include broadcasters and media, to refuse advertisements which are in breach of the Code of Advertising Practice.
Addressing TotalEnergies’ argument that the statement in question was made in corporate communication, the ARB says that, as per the Code of Advertising Practice, “any visual or aural communication […] intended to promote the sale, leasing, or use of any goods of services” should be seen as an advertisement. Here, the statement was found in the announcement on TotalEnergies’ website, which the ARB argues is used to promote TotalEnergies’ goods or services. Therefore, the corporate communication is an advertisement.
In its review of the disputed claim in the advertisement, the ARB separates the statement into two separate sections, (a) sustainable development and (b) environmental protection. Both sections are inextricably linked with TotalEnergies’ partnership with SANParks, and the ARB therefore interprets them in that context.
With regard to “environmental protection”, the ARB says that with TotalEnergies’ support, SANParks can carry out its objectives to protect South African natural heritage. As such, the ARB decides that the use of “environmental protection” in the context of the SANParks partnership is not misleading and not in breach of the Code of Advertising Practice.
However, the same does not apply to “sustainable development”. Using the definition of the International Institute for Sustainable Development, sustainable development is understood as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. The ARB states that TotalEnergies’ business directly opposes the definition of sustainable development, despite TotalEnergies' engagement in certain sustainable development projects. What matters here is the context in which TotalEnergies claims to be committed to sustainable development. As there is no link between the SANParks partnership and sustainable development, the claim is indeed misleading. Without the missing link, TotalEnergies’ commitment to sustainable development should be apparent across its activities, which is not the case. This means that TotalEnergies indeed engaged in greenwashing.
Overall, ARB instructs its members to refuse any ads from TotalEnergies that use the phrase 'committed to sustainable development' if the ads relate to the SANPark collaboration.
Implications for the Future
According to Lazola Kati, who is campaign manager at Fossil Ad Ban, “[t]his ruling is a significant victory in our fight against the greenwashing tactics employed by fossil fuel companies” and it “sets a critical precedent in South Africa, affirming that companies cannot mask behind their harmful environmental practices with misleading claims”.
It’s important to recognize that the ARB's decision is narrowly tailored to the specifics of this case, meaning that future instances will need to be carefully evaluated to determine if they meet the threshold for greenwashing. In this instance, the term “sustainable development” was deemed greenwashing solely because it was misleading in the context of the SANParks partnership. While a more comprehensive precedent would be ideal, the fact that this was the first successful greenwashing complaint in South Africa is a significant milestone worth celebrating.
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