SA regulator rules against TotalEnergies

The South African Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB) has ruled against French oil giant TotalEnergies' claim that it's committed to sustainable development as part of its partnership with SA National Parks (SANParks), reports Fin24. In marketing material for a competition to encourage South Africans to visit SA's wildlife parks, TotalEnergies claims on its website that it is ‘committed to sustainable development and environmental protection’. A complaint was lodged with the ARB about the claim, which the complainant believes constitutes ‘greenwashing’ – making people believe it is doing more to protect the environment than it really is. The complainant contended that TotalEnergies remains a large greenhouse gas emitter, continues to explore for new oil and gas reserves across Africa and that it is involved in projects like the East African Crude Oil Pipeline, a controversial 1 443km buried pipeline between Uganda and Tanzania. In response, TotalEnergies contended that the website material is not an advertisement but ‘corporate communication’, and since it does not promote any product or service, it should not be subject to the ARB's judgment. In addition, it outlined its commitment to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 and being a ‘major player’ in the energy transition with investments in renewable solar and wind energy, including in SA.

In its ruling, the ARB dismissed TotalEnergies' objection that it can't rule on website content, saying that ‘the function of a website is to promote the sale or use of a business goods or services’. The ARB says the fact that TotalEnergies has supported SANParks, which is clearly geared towards environmental protection, for more than 60 years, constitutes a commitment to that cause. ‘For this reason, the claim “committed to … environmental protection” is not unreasonable in this context.’ But it did not find that TotalEnergies' support of SANParks amounted to a commitment to sustainable development. The ARB says that it has no evidence that there is a link between the support of SANParks, and any definition of sustainable development. The ARB instructed its members – including the major media houses – not to accept any advertising from TotalEnergies with the wording ‘committed to sustainable development’ relating to its support of SANParks.

ARB Ruling

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