Shell Oil Company Told to Stop Misleading Advertising

Shell Advertisements Found to Be "Greenwashing"

Friends of the Earth International media release states that the Dutch Advertising Authority has accepted a complaint filed in Amsterdam against Shell Oil Company for an advertisement that claims that Shell uses its waste carbon dioxide to grow flowers.

Friends of the Earth Netherlands, a branch of Friends of the Earth International, filed a complaint against a "greenwash" advertisement being run by Shell in the Netherlands. The Dutch Advertising Authority has instructed Shell to stop misleading the public with "geenwashing" advertising.

According to Shell Oil's Sustainability Reports, Shell has been taking steps to reduce harmful social and environmental practices, but their efforts still produce only small results, in this case being specifically 0.325 percent reduction of CO2 waste out of total emissions. Because the statistics show only incremental advances, the Dutch Advertising Authority confirmed that the advertisement is misleading.

The print media advertisement that appeared in Netherlands' newspapers and magazines in April and May of 2007 shows a refinery chimney blowing out flowers instead of smoke. According to an earlier Friends of the Earth Europe media release, it is true that Shell has developed a program whereby an oil refinery in the Netherlands pipes waste CO2 to heat greenhouses where flowers are grown. This program saves 350,000 tons of carbon dioxide waste per year, but this is out of a total of 100 million tons per year.

The ad also claims that Shell uses sulphur to make concrete. While this again is true for a small percentage of Shell's sulphur waste, it is also true that the major part of its sulphur waste is used as fuel for sea ships. The ships ultimately release the sulphur into the air, as a consequence of which, sea ships are recognized as a major source of sulphur dioxide pollution.