Thursday, August 22, 2024

Johannesburg, South Africa

In a rare ruling on a greenwashing issue, South Africa’s advertising regulator has ruled that TotalEnergies’ promotion of sustainable development in an advertising campaign in the country was misleading.

The targeted campaign was carried out in collaboration with the South African National Parks Authority SANParks, to encourage people to visit the parks.

Called #FuelYourExperience, TotalEnergies claims to be “committed to sustainable development and environmental protection”.

“That’s why we’ve been working with SANParks for over 60 years, so that South Africans can enjoy our country’s natural heritage and pass on their love of the environment to their children,” the ad continues.

But according to South Africa’s Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB), this claim is “misleading” and may suggest that “sustainable development” is practiced in all the company’s activities.

There is “no evidence of a link between SANParks’ support and any definition of sustainable development”, adds the authority in a ruling dated August 14, following a complaint lodged by the Fossil Free SA association.

It also states that while many of TotalEnergies’ projects are geared towards sustainable development, there is “no doubt that the advertiser’s core business is directly opposed to the issue of sustainable development, insofar as the continued exploitation of fossil fuels” runs counter to this objective.

In its submission to the regulator, TotalEnergies Marketing South Africa, the group’s subsidiary in South Africa, asserts that the offending content “is not” an advertising campaign, but a “corporate communication” on an aspect of the group’s social responsibility programs, according to the ARB’s record of decision.

The South African subsidiary refutes any “false” or “misleading” character of its “stated commitment to sustainable development and environmental protection”, and lists a number of commitments which it says illustrate the group’s ambition to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and to be a “major player” in the energy transition.

When contacted by AFP, TotalEnergies declined to comment further on ARB’s decision.

TotalEnergies has the option of appealing, but has given no indication of whether it intends to do so, WRA Managing Director Gail Schimmel told AFP.

Although the WRA does not have a “greenwashing” category in its code of best practice, this complaint is the first it has received of this nature, Schimmel said.

She added, however, that while this decision could pave the way for more complaints about environmental issues, it is a specific case that should not be “seen as a kind of blanket indictment of the advertiser by the ARB”.

Humaniterre with Agence France-Presse