Complaints submitted to UK and Dutch regulators over Shell’s misleading marketing on ‘carbon neutral home energy’

Complaints have been submitted to advertising regulators in the UK and the Netherlands objecting to Shell’s advertisement of ‘carbon neutral home energy’ which includes fossil gas. 

Shell Energy’s advertisement claiming to “make your home’s energy carbon neutral”. Source: Facebook

This latest round of complaints comes off the back of the Dutch advertising regulator ruling against Shell’s advertisements claiming to offer carbon neutral and carbon compensated driving in 2021.  

The complaints by UK-based New Weather Institute and the Dutch Reclame Fossielvrij (Fossil Free Advertising) refer to an international marketing campaign by Shell, where the 'Shell Energy' division offers customers the chance to purchase ‘carbon neutral’ gas for the home. In the complaints they have filed with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and the Reclame Code Commissie (RCC) respectively, the complainants are represented by De Roos Lawyers.

These Shell advertisements are deeply misleading. The fossil fuel giant bases its offsetting claim on a controversial system using carbon credits that would compensate for CO2 emissions by planting trees or protecting forests. Recent investigations have revealed the flawed practice and science of this method. 

In 2021, the Dutch RCC ruled, based on a study by the Amsterdam based VU University lawyer Clemens Kaupa and nine students, that the sustainability claim ‘CO2 neutral’ in this context is misleading. Shell subsequently replaced the word CO2 neutral with the term ‘CO2 compensation’, which the RCC also deemed misleading. Despite these efforts, Shell continues to advertise CO2 neutral driving across multiple countries.

On submitting the complaints, Martine Doppen, campaigner at Advertising Fossil Free, said: “There is abundant scientific evidence that fossil fuel damage cannot be undone with carbon credits for tree planting or protecting trees, as Shell is telling customers. This kind of fairy tale undermines the sense of urgency about climate disruption."

Andrew Simms of the New Weather Institute added that “Shell is a repeat offender when it comes to making misleading claims. We are compelled to make these joint complaints in two countries, because it has become clear that Shell will never stop its climate deception on its own.” Simms stressed that “greenwash spreads across borders like air pollution and there is a flaw in holding it to account. If an advertising watchdog reprimands an advertisement in one country, it doesn't stop the same advert appearing in other countries. We simply don't have the time to file a complaint about misleading advertisements by fossil fuel multinationals in every country. Companies that run misleading campaigns internationally need to be held accountable by the international system."