Tackling fossil fuel advertising
Updates from our Fossil Ad Ban campaign
Dear Fossil Free SA friends and supporters,
Act now – report fossil fuel greenwashing to us!
A few weeks ago, floods, fires, fallen trees, electricity outages, road closures, and damaged structures were seen across the Western Cape. Although we can't pinpoint climate change as the direct cause of specific extreme events, research has shown that it does affect their frequency and intensity across the globe.
A recent study has found that nearly 80% of Capetonians reside in areas highly susceptible to weather-related hazards, facing disruption to essential services like transportation, education, and healthcare. The analysis showed that 15.2% of the city’s schools and 28.8% of healthcare facilities are in high-exposure areas. Severe weather damage to the transport network could amount to R20 billion, impacting 50% to 80% of the city's workforce and leading to substantial economic losses.
While it can be frightening to come to terms with the fact that the climate crisis is no longer a problem for the distant future, we can’t become despondent. There is still a chance for us to minimise and mitigate the worst of its effects – if we take immediate action. Here at FFSA, we’re strengthening our resolve to undermine the social licence of the fossil fuel industry, the primary contributor to our current predicament and a major obstacle to transitioning to cleaner energy sources.
As you may know, one of our newest campaigns is the Fossil Ad Ban campaign, which is working alongside the Clean Creatives campaign to challenge greenwashing in South Africa. Where Clean Creatives is aimed at encouraging people within the creative industry to stop lending their talents to fossil fuel clients, the Fossil Ad Ban is working to encourage stakeholders to adopt a comprehensive ban on advertisements from fossil fuel companies. This follows the trend of global movements against greenwashing from across the world, particularly in the EU, Australia and Canada.
A ban on fossil fuel advertising will raise awareness of the multiple harms caused by fossil fuels, challenge the corrupt influence of this industry, and promote a more equitable and just transition to a higher tech, lower-carbon future. Fossil fuels are now making us all poorer, their use at scale is a fundamental threat to all life on Earth, and while we can’t get rid of them overnight, we certainly don’t need to promote them any more or exaggerate their ever-declining necessity. Find out more about the campaign here.
Since launching the Fossil Ad Ban campaign last year, our team has been hard at work to establish it and shape its trajectory. We would like to take this opportunity to update you on everything we have accomplished so far - please find these updates below.
We would also like to wish farewell to one of our campaigners, James Granelli, who is stepping down to focus on his MPhil in Environmental Humanities at the University of Cape Town. James has been a vital part of developing the campaign to where it is today and we deeply appreciate all of his contributions. We wish him all the best for his studies, and hope he will be able to rejoin us again in the future.
For all of you who continue to support our work, we are very grateful. If you have the means, please consider donating to support our work. Even very small monthly contributions are greatly appreciated.
Very best wishes,
Thameena Dhansay, on behalf of the Fossil Ad Ban team
The Fossil Ad Ban Dispatch
An overview of our work so far
The launch of our campaign in June 2023 marked it as the first campaign on the African continent to join a global movement against fossil fuel advertising. The webinar was hosted by Dean Bhebhe from Don’t Gas Africa and was joined by a global cohort of allies and speakers from the Netherlands, Australia, Zimbabwe and more.
In response to Banyana Banyana’s Women’s World Cup success in August, Thameena Dhansay penned a compelling op-ed for the Daily Maverick about how Sasol’s sponsorship of women’s football distracts us from their environmental destruction.
We held a collaborative event with Clean Creatives for the African Climate Alliance’s Africa Climate Week on the 20th of September. Thameena gave a brief presentation on the campaign and participated in a panel discussion about “Unleashing Creativity for Climate.”
September also saw the publication of another powerful Daily Maverick op-ed by campaigner James Granelli. James drew attention to TotalEnergies' marketing collaboration with the Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment, particularly their sponsorship of SANParks Week. James's insights were further echoed in a Daily Maverick piece by Kristin Engel on the 29th of November, surrounding TotalEnergies’ greenwashing practices.
In December and January, we received a legal opinion on the feasibility of a fossil ad ban, and advice from other partners, which prompted us to switch gears from a Cape Town-focused ban only to a broader strategy, and we have commenced approaches to other leading SA metros and the Advertising Regulatory Board.
We have received numerous endorsements for this campaign – from former head of Greenpeace and Amnesty International Kumi Naidoo, activist and independent candidate Zackie Achmat, global oceans advocate Lewis Pugh, Greenpeace Africa, and Professor Matthew Chersich of Wits RHI. Our campaign emphasises the severe public health impacts of burning fossil fuels and has also garnered the support of the Public Health Association of South Africa (PHASA), the UCT Centre for Environmental Health, the Health Justice Initiative and the social justice campaign #UniteBehind. Other endorsements include: African Climate Alliance, the Centre for Environmental Rights, Project 90 by 2030, Green Anglicans, Earthlife Africa, Just Share, groundWork, SAFCEI, Extinction Rebellion, and the Climate Justice Charter Movement.
The first quarter of 2024 has seen a lot of foundational work come to light. We finalised our website and launched our social media pages – please give us a follow!
We established a network of partners and allies who are also tackling greenwashing in their own capacities. This has created a space for us to bounce ideas around and gain inspiration. Our new Greenwashing Network SA consultative group of partners keen to challenge fossil fuel industry greenwash includes members from Just Share, the Centre for Environmental Rights, ALT Advisory, and the Environmental Defenders Office in Australia. Reach out if you’d like to participate in this group.
We had an insightful engagement with the Advertising Regulatory Board about the development of their regulations on Environmental Claims. They provided us with information about how the structure of the ARB can help us achieve our goals and best practices for filing a complaint.
In line with this, we will soon be launching a Fossil Ad Watch, where citizens can report cases of fossil fuel advertising to us. Our hope is to encourage citizens to file complaints about fossil fuel advertising, so it is on the radars of advertising regulators, advertising sites and government leaders.
Looking ahead, we will be engaging with metros across the country about discussions around regulating advertising by fossil fuel companies within their jurisdiction. We are hoping to create a database of fossil ads from the Fossil Ad Watch and from ad tracking. This will give us insight into how fossil fuel companies advertise, how much money they spend and people’s reactions to them.
As always, feel free to hit reply or contact us with your thoughts.