Time for Transport for London to ban high-carbon advertising
As the row over Euston Station’s digital ad screens raged recently, Sadiq Khan came under mounting pressure at the London Assembly about advertising for polluting products on the Transport for London network (TfL).
As owner of one of the largest advertising estates in the world, TfL has faced criticism for the volume of advertising for fossil fuel companies “soaking” the transport network, despite the city’s net zero targets, and the Mayor’s laudable and highly personal mission, to cut air pollution and emissions.
In response to a question about the link between London’s Net Zero targets and advertising on the TfL network, posed by Green Party London Assembly member Caroline Russell on Thursday, 10 October 2024, Khan responded:
“TfL has a major role to play in decarbonising our city: I am determined that every lever is pulled to do that through changes to TfL operations.
TfL maintains a comprehensive and rigorous advertising policy and copy review process and follows the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) guidance to ensure advertisements are not misleading. Advertisers must follow this guidance and CAP advice must be sought on all advertising relating to fossil fuel extraction and environmental claims.
All advertising copy that includes an environmental claim or is from brands associated with fossil fuel extraction is referred to TfL by their media partners so that they can be sure that the guidance is being followed correctly in these cases and particularly to ensure advertisers are not misleading.”
If any new guidance on fossil fuel ads is proved by the ASA, TfL will of course follow that – Sadiq Khan
Station take overs
The UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres called for a worldwide ban on fossil fuel advertising in June this year. After the UN’s clarion call for action, a Freedom of Information request made by Desmog revealed that TfL has hosted over 240 ad campaigns for fossil fuel companies since Khan pledged to make London a ‘zero carbon city’ in 2018.
Desmog’s FOI not only revealed the scale of fossil ads across London’s transport network, but that fossil ads are regularly being placed at Westminster and St James’ tube stations – the nearest stations to Parliament – during politically expedient periods.
Equinor ran three ad campaigns during 2022-2023 while the government was considering whether to approve the Rosebank oil field in the North Sea – a project widely described as a ‘carbon bomb’ – and in which Equinor was a key operator. Both Shell and BP ran ‘station takeovers’ – where a company buys every piece of advertising space – at Westminster station with campaigns clearly aimed at influencing policy decision-makers that misleadingly presented both companies as being integral to the UK’s energy transition.
Picture: BP’s “And, not or” tube ad campaign at Westminster touted the company’s “increasing investment in the transition to lower carbon energy”while also promising to keep “oil and gas flowing”.
Defining ‘high carbon’ ads
At the London Assembly Mayor’s Question Time, Assembly Member Russell pointed out that her question was about the actual products which are being advertised on the TfL network, including SUVs and flights for holidays, not whether ads are misleading, and reminded Khan of his claim back in 2019 that: “TfL is looking at how it can ensure its advertising estate is not used by those that have the most detrimental impact on the environment.”
Five years on, Russell expressed her disappointment about the lack of progress which seems to have been made. “We all agree we shouldn’t be profiting from or promoting weapons, cigarettes, or authoritarian regimes on our public transport – why is the Mayor treating deadly fossil fuels any differently?”
Khan responded by saying that banning advertising for foods with high fat, salt and sugar content (HFSS) and for authoritarian regimes is easy, because external guidance exists to determine what foods are unhealthy, and which regimes have legal policies which breach human rights. But that “in those emerging areas in relation to fossil fuel extraction there are no clear guidelines”.
“Once we have a system where we can make decisions that are clear – like we did with foods high in fat, salt and sugar, like we do with other issues – of course we will try to move but there isn’t that certainty because of the lack of clarity there is on this issue [of defining high carbon products].” – Sadiq Khan
A clear case for a category ad ban
Khan's well informed response cited the new advertising policies put in place by councils in Edinburgh, Sheffield and The Hague recently, which have identified and specifically prohibited ads for high carbon products including cars, flights, holidays, cruises and fossil fuel products. Whilst the Mayor did not address Russell’s question directly about these products, he reiterated that the TfL's advertising policy would be kept under review.
Despite some local authorities such as Edinburgh and Sheffield successfully defining high carbon products using available criteria and toolkits from climate groups such as Badvertising and Adfree Cities, the lack of an officially-recognised definition on what constitutes a ‘high carbon’ product has been used by some local authorities to defer adoption of similar bans. Nonetheless, legal advice for local governments has determined that as long as policies are designed with a strong evidence base, they can be implemented at a local authority’s discretion. And, indeed, ad regulator, the ASA’s own codes specifically state that, “Advertising must not encourage behaviour grossly prejudicial to the protection of the environment,” (CAP Code 30:7) which given the climate disruption and human death toll from burning fossil fuels, flying and driving petrol and diesel vehicles are by any reasonable definition.
Prior to Transport for London’s junk food advertising ban implemented in 2019, the food and drinks industry were able to lobby to delay any such policy until the ‘Nutrient Profiling Model’ provided a clear academic definition of High Fat Sugar Salt products. Even then, many advertising industry and junk food representatives kept up a vociferous lobbying campaign to try to block it.
Whilst a definition similar to the Nutrient Profiling Model does not yet exist for high carbon products, advertising by three high polluting sectors do warrant immediate action, as set out by the Badvertising campaign:
ads for fossil fuel companies,
ads for petrol, diesel and hyrbid cars and
ads for airlines and airports
TfL could learn from other councils such as Edinburgh and Sheffield and develop advertising restrictions on these categories (and others) in the near term. Without tobacco-style restrictions on advertising for high carbon products from national and local government, advertising watchdogs will remain stuck in a slow process of responsive regulation to spot misleading adverts from major polluters such as Shell. Fossil fuel advertisers continue to defy and outrun the Advertising Standards Authority, who itself stands opposed to the implementation of a category ad ban, claiming that this is a matter for the UK Parliament.
This exchange at the London Mayor’s Question Time in October 2024 illustrates the need for national tobacco-style bans on advertising of high-carbon products.