ASA Ruling on Petroliam Nasional Berhad (trading as Petronas)

In September 2022, a TV ad for Petronas was seen. The ad began with a voice-over, spoken by a child, which said, “Our story began with a dream, to see if we could take on an industry. It wasn't easy, but slowly, good began to happen.” Scenes of traffic moving, a port full of shipping containers, broken ice floating on the sea, litter in a river and a forest fire were shown. The voice-over continued, “But as the world produced more energy it became nature's problem, and we were part of it. An answer was needed so we started connecting the dots, to become a progressive energy and solutions partner, enriching lives for a sustainable future.” Solar panels, children in classrooms, a well being built and recycling in a factory were shown. The voice-over said, “To reduce emissions, grow renewable energy, bring education to more, champion social impact and promote a circular economy, as well as achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050” and text stating “Net Zero 2050” was shown on screen. The voice-over continued, “Let's connect the dots together and create a more sustainable future for all so that our next generation will always have something to look forward to” and a child was shown looking out into the distance. By a ruling of June 7, 2023, the ASA upheld its challenge to the ad. The CAP Code required that the basis of environmental claims must be clear and stated that claims could mislead if material information was omitted. Consumers would understand the ad to mean that Petronas was already an energy company that was contributing to a sustainable future by making progress towards emissions reductions and growing the use of renewable energy, as well as having a plan in place that would result in it achieving these goals and net zero by 2050. The acknowledgment in the ad that Petronas was part of “nature’s problem” was about their past contribution. It did not therefore counteract the claims in the ad about Petronas’s current activities and future plans. Petronas told ASA that they were taking steps towards net zero and promoting sustainable energy, and these were reflected in the ad. Other claims in the ad were said to be intended to be aspirational rather than targets that had already been achieved. However, despite that, in 2021 Petronas’ operations produced 45.2 million tons of greenhouse gases. While viewers would recognise that companies in the oil industry were likely to be higher emitters of greenhouse gases than many other industries, they would not understand the extent of Petronas’ continuing significant contribution to greenhouse gas emissions given the presentation and claims in the ad, which went beyond aspirational claims. The information about the balance of Petronas’ current activities, its emissions and the pathway to reducing them in line with the claims made in the ad, was therefore material information likely to affect consumers’ understanding of the ad’s overall message and so should have been made clear. The ad therefore omitted material information and was misleading. The ASA ruled that the ad must not be broadcast again in its current form. The ASA told Petronas to ensure their future marketing communications did not misleadingly omit material information. This Ruling formed part of a wider piece of work on environmental claims in the energy sector, following intelligence gathered by the Advertising Standards Authority (“ASA”).