(Bloomberg) -- In 2021, a series of HSBC advertisements started appearing on bus stops around the UK. Part of a campaign centered on the slogan “Climate change doesn’t do borders,” the posters paired images of trees and ocean waves with statements about the bank’s efforts to finance the transition to net zero and help plant 2 million trees. Most Read from BloombergWall Street Comes to Grips With How Wrong It’s Been in 2023MGM Resorts Hackers Broke In After Tricking IT Service DeskThe World Is St
Adfree Cities, a campaign group that targets street ads, wasn’t having it. The group complained about the HSBC campaign to the Advertising Standards Authority , a UK industry regulator. In its review of the complaint, the ASA found that HSBC had sent $130 billion of financing to fossil fuel companies in recent years. The agency banned the ads for greenwashing.
“This is an important moment in greenwashing regulation, essentially because there hasn’t been one before,” says Jonathan White, a lawyer at ClientEarth, an environmental law charity. “If you look across jurisdictions, from the UK to the EU to the US, even elsewhere to Asia, you get the very clear sense that legislators and regulators are doing something about this and want to be seen to be doing something about this.
Australia, for example, prohibits companies from misleading or deceiving consumers, and from engaging in “unconscionable conduct.” But Erin Turner, chief executive officer at the CPRC, says many advertising claims don’t meet that high a bar — they’re more likely to be vague, or minimally justified, than actively deceptive.
The city of New York and the state of Connecticut have also brought cases against oil companies for misleading the public about the climate-changing effects of fossil fuels. Every approach to tackling greenwashing has its limitations. Even the most active regulators have a Whac-a-Mole problem thanks to the proliferation of sustainability claims. Litigation is inherently reactive, and doesn’t necessarily prevent future violations. The same goes for banning ads; it’s a slow process that doesn’t stop oil and gas companies from continuing to develop new campaigns. The FTC, meanwhile, has split priorities.
Talk to those involved in greenwashing regulation, though, and you’ll get the impression that advertisers are on notice. It’s no longer possible to claim ignorance of the rules around green advertising, even if plenty of companies ignore them.
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