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Amsterdam, Netherlands - New research from Harvard University, commissioned by Greenpeace Netherlands, reveals the widespread use of greenwashing and tokenism by Europe's biggest car brands, airlines and oil and gas companies to exploit people's concerns about the environment and spreading disinformation online.
The report, Three shades of green (wash)is the most thorough assessment of the recent greenwashing by fossil fuel stakeholders on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube.
The researchers used well-established social science methods to track brands' social media activities and to analyze images and text in companies' posts.[1][2]
Greenpeace activist Amina Adebisi Odofin said: “This report shows that many of these companies spend more online airtime on sports, charity and fashion than on their multi-billion dollar fossil fuel businesses. This clear sports and washwear promotes the sale of climate-damaging products and fuels international conflict and human rights abuses around the world. If we are serious about tackling the climate crisis, we need a ban on fossil fuel advertising.”
Findings include that only one in five "green" car ads sold a product, with the remainder serving primarily to present the brand as green. One in five posts from oil, auto and aerospace companies used sports, fashion and social issues - collectively referred to as "misdirection" - to divert attention from the companies' core business roles and responsibilities. companies different Leveraging nature imagery, female presenters, non-binary presenters, non-caucasian presenters, youth, experts, athletes, and celebrities to amplify their messages of greenwashing and deception.[3]
Two-thirds (67%) of oil, auto, and aerospace companies' social media posts painted a "green innovation glow" on their operations, which the authors identify as representing a variety of types and degrees of greenwashing. Auto brands were much more proactive on social media than airlines and oil companies, generating on average twice as much as airlines and four times as much as oil and gas companies. Only a negligible handful of posts explicitly referred to climate change, despite Europe's record-breaking summer.
Geoffrey Supran, Research Associate in the Department of the History of Science at Harvard University and lead author of the study, said: “Social media is the new frontier of climate deception and delay. Our findings show that as Europe experienced its hottest summer on record, some of the companies most responsible for global warming remained silent about the climate crisis on social media, choosing instead to use language and imagery to strategically position themselves as Green, Innovative, Charitable Brands.”
The report confirms that social media is the new frontier of climate disinformation and deception, allowing fossil fuel interests to engage in what the researchers call "strategic branding." This is an evolution of the tobacco industry's public affairs tactics, which for decades successfully blocked regulation of its deadly products.
Addressing world leaders at the UN General Assembly yesterday, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called for a tighter scrutiny of the fossil fuel industry's "massive, billion-grossing PR machine to protect the fossil fuel industry." to protect” and compared them to tobacco industry lobbyists and spin doctors who for decades successfully blocked regulation of their deadly product [2]. Greenpeace and other 40 organizations are pushing a European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) petition calling for a new tobacco-like law banning fossil fuel advertising and sponsorship in the European Union.
Silvia Pastorelli, EU climate and energy activist said: “One of our most amazing findings is that the European oil, car and aviation industries are subtly but systematically appropriating the beauty of nature in their social media content to 'green' their public image. Car brands in particular are much more proactive on social media than airlines and oil majors. This means automakers have a much larger role to play in shaping the public narrative about climate, fossil fuels and the energy transition. This ubiquitous and powerful public affairs technique has lurked in plain sight and warrants closer scrutiny. This is a systematic greenwashing effort that needs to be addressed with a legal ban on all fossil fuel advertising and sponsorship across Europe, just as has been done with tobacco.”
Last year, Greenpeace EU and 40 other organizations started one European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) petition. the call for a new tobacco-like law banning fossil fuel advertising and sponsorship in the European Union.
For the first time this year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) identified the role of public relations and advertising in fueling the climate crisis, while hundreds of scientists signed a letter urging public relations and advertising agencies to stop working with fossil fuel companies and the spread of climate disinformation.[4][5]
Notes:
Complete report, Three shades of green (wash)
[1] Methodology: The research analyzed 1 posts from 31 accounts on five platforms (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Youtube) between June 2022st and July 2.325st, 375 from the 12 largest car brands and 5 largest airlines (by market capitalization) and 5 largest companies for fossil fuels (with the largest cumulative historical greenhouse gas emissions 1965-2018). 145 textual and visual variables were coded as part of a content analysis that used a statistical test (Fisher's exact test) for associations between all combinations of independent variables.
[2] Research team and management: The research was conducted by a team of researchers from Harvard and computer scientists from the Algorithmic Transparency Institute. The research was led by Harvard's Geoffrey Supran, whose publications include the first-ever peer-reviewed analysis of ExxonMobil's 40-year history of communicating on climate change, showing that the company has misled the public about climate science and its impacts.
[3] Assessment of ExxonMobil's climate communications (1977–2014)
[4] Why the IPCC has shone the spotlight on advertising agencies still working with fossil fuel clients
[5] Scientists target PR and advertising firms whom they accuse of spreading disinformation
Contact
Sol Gosetti, Fossil Free Revolution Media Coordinator, Greenpeace Netherlands: [email protected]+44 (0) 7807352020 WhatsApp +44 (0) 7380845754
International Press Office of Greenpeace: [email protected]+31 (0) 20 718 2470 (available XNUMX hours a day)
Follow @greenpeacepress on Twitter for our latest international press releases
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Photos: Greenpeace
