‘Badvertising’ is a campaign to stop adverts and sponsorships fuelling the climate emergency. This includes, amongst others, ads and sponsorships for cars, airline flights and fossil fuels. We ended tobacco advertising when we understood the harm done by smoking. Now we know the damage done by fossil fuel products and activities, it’s time to stop promoting them.
FAQ
Who is behind this campaign?
The campaign is organised by the New Weather Institute think tank and climate charity Possible, and kindly funded by the KR Foundation. We also work in close partnership with colleagues from Adfree Cities and with members of the Subvertisers International network, alongside other international groups working to end high-carbon advertising.
What are high-carbon adverts?
These include adverts for goods and services, such as fossil fuels, SUVs, fossil-powered cars and air travel that emit large amounts of greenhouse gases and are disproportionately responsible for the climate crisis.
Beyond these products and services directly derived from fossil fuels are other categories including fast fashion, climate-damaging foods such as beef and dairy, holidays abroad that necessitate air travel, luxury cruise ships and fossil fuel financiers.
How does high-carbon advertising and sponsorship fuel the climate crisis?
Advertising and sponsorship shapes our desires and aspirations, consciously and subconsciously. Whether it's an ad for a large polluting car or a rolling sponsorship banner for an airline at a football game watched by millions, high-carbon advertising and sponsorship currently normalises and actively encourages carbon intensive behaviours in the midst of a climate emergency.
Research shows there is a clear link between advertising and higher levels of consumption, and therefore emissions. In 2022, UK advertising was responsible for 208 million tonnes of CO2 emissions, adding an extra 32% to the annual carbon footprint of every single person in the UK through the uplift in sales. Another report found that globally, car and airline advertising in 2019 could account for between 202-606 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions - the equivalent to the entire carbon emissions of the Netherlands to twice Spain’s total emissions for 2019.
The world’s largest polluters, like fossil fuel companies, also heavily rely on advertising to greenwash their image and disguise their damaging activities.
Why do we need to curb high-carbon advertising?
Millions of people living in towns, cities, and countries that have declared climate emergencies still face adverts for high-carbon goods and services on a regular basis. It’s time to end this contradiction. Encouraging the consumption of high-carbon goods and services by allowing corporate polluters to promote their products or greenwash their image, whether on billboards, in the media or via sports or cultural institutions, is simply not compatible with the need to urgently reduce CO2 emissions. The UK House of Lords, the UN Environment Programme and the World Health Organisation have all flagged the need to address high-carbon advertising to promote sustainable behaviour change, protect public health and ensure a habitable planet.
What actions have been taken to stop high-carbon adverts?
Local authorities across the world have taken steps to restrict high carbon advertising and sponsorship, including North Somerset, Norwich and Cambridgeshire in the UK and cities in the Netherlands, Sweden and Australia. In 2022, France was the first country to pass national legislation prohibiting some adverts for fossil fuels.
As well as steps taken by local authorities, pressure is mounting on media outlets and public transport networks to drop high-carbon ads following public moves from Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter and Amsterdam’s metro operator to remove high-carbon adverts.
