BP, Shell, Exxon and Chevron are all in the top 25 list of companies responsible for over half of global industrial emissions since 1988. Despite knowing that their actions cause climate chaos, they continue to dig up and burn fossil fuels. [1]
They are also among the companies that put millions into Facebook advertising every year. [2] Facebook says they’re committed to reducing their carbon footprint [3] - but their willingness to accept money from the companies causing climate breakdown says otherwise.
Public pressure has nudged Facebook to change its policies before, and we can do it again. When targeted by environmental groups for using coal to power their data centres, the company pledged to shift to renewable energy. Now let’s take it one step further and call on Facebook to go totally fossil free!
Join the call now:
While other destructive industries, like tobacco and guns, are already banned from running ads on Facebook, they still facilitate the promotion of coal-burning businesses.
The ads by fossil fuel companies often promote their efforts to move towards renewable and clean energy sources. They highlight wind power initiatives, biofuels and ‘future technology’, but they’re not telling the whole truth. Reports have shown that oil and gas companies spent only around 1 per cent of their 2018 budgets on clean energy. [4]
Even worse, while they run these greenwashing ad campaigns on Facebook, the world’s five largest oil and gas companies spent more than 1 billion dollars lobbying our politicians to stop laws fighting climate change.
The fossil fuel industry has brought us to the brink of climate breakdown, and it’s time their social license, on the biggest social media platform, was revoked. Join the growing call for a Fossil Free Facebook!
Thank you,
Fatima (London), Virginia (Madrid), Marta (Warsaw) and the WeMove Europe team
References:
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2018/sep/19/shell-and-exxons-secret-1980s-climate-change-warnings
[2] https://www.desmogblog.com/2019/03/22/paris-oil-exxon-chevron-bp-total-shell-billion-climate-lobbying-advertising-influencemap
[3] https://sustainability.fb.com
[4] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-oil-renewables/big-oil-spent-1-percent-on-green-energy-in-2018-idUSKCN1NH004