Labour MP Jacob Collier cited DeSmog investigations into the strategies used by oil and gas companies to delay climate action in opening remarks to a parliamentary debate on whether the UK government should ban fossil fuel advertising.
A petition calling for a ban signed by more than 110,000 people and championed by environmentalist Chris Packham triggered Monday’s debate.
“While all speech may be free, speech is not without consequence, and fossil fuel advertising is not just a matter of a few billboards here and there, it is increasingly a coordinated strategy to build trust, shape culture and delay structural change,” Collier told parliament.
“Fossil fuel companies, as uncovered in the internal BP advertising memos, seek to reinforce their social license and influence consumer behaviour by associating themselves with progress, positivity and public good.”
DeSmog published a review of internal BP documents in May that showed how the company viewed sponsorships as a central to its strategy to allay public concerns over its role in the climate crisis while simultaneously lobbying against policies aimed at tackling it.
Collier also referred to a DeSmog investigation published in July last year that revealed oil and gas companies had run hundreds of advertising campaigns on London public transport since Mayor Sadiq Khan’s 2018 “zero carbon city” pledge, as well as research by Badvertising and the New Weather Institute.
“Fossil fuel ads appear in Westminster station, for example, not because consumers need urgent advice about offshore drilling, but because that’s where we the policymakers walk,” Collier said.
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