South Africa's advertising body rules on TotalEnergies 'greenwashing' August 24, 2024

By AFP - Agence France Presse

South Africa's advertising body rules on TotalEnergies 'greenwashing'

South Africa's advertising regulator has ruled that a claim by TotalEnergies that the company promotes sustainable development was misleading, in what was said on Thursday to be the body's first ruling on corporate greenwashing.

The landmark ruling centers on a TotalEnergies campaign with South Africa's conservation authority, Sanparks, to encourage people to visit the country's national parks.

In the #FuelYourExperience campaign, TotalEnergies stated that it is “committed to sustainable development and environmental protection”.

“This is why we have partnered with Sanparks for over 60 years so that South Africans can appreciate our country's natural heritage and pass on their love of the environment to their children,” the campaign continues.

But the ARB (Advertising Regulatory Board) said the claim was misleading and could lead people to believe that “sustainable development” is practiced in all the company's activities.

The board had “no evidence that there was a link between Sanparks' support and any definition of sustainable development”, it added.

The complaint against the South African marketing arm of the French energy giant was made by the Fossil Free SA association.

The ARB decision, dated August 14, said that although many TotalEnergies projects are geared towards sustainable development, there is “no doubt that the advertiser's core business directly opposes the issue of sustainable development, as the continued exploitation of fossil fuel is contraindicated in this context”.

The claim in the promotion was “made in the context of a fuel company, which must be accepted as having certain environmentally hostile aspects inherent in its business”, it said.

TotalEnergies has the option to appeal, but has not indicated that it plans to do so, the advertising board's executive director, Gail Schimmel, told AFP.

Although the ARB does not have a “greenwashing” category in its code of guiding practices, this complaint was the first it had received of this nature, Schimmel said.

Although the decision could pave the way for more complaints on environmental issues, this was a specific case and should not be “seen as some kind of blanket indictment of the advertiser by the ARB”, she added.

br/rox