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ASA Ruling on Shell UK Ltd (following a complaint by Adfree Cities) - decision

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This ruling concerned a poster, a TV ad, and a YouTube ad for Shell. The poster was seen in Bristol in June 2022. It featured in large text “BRISTOL is READY for Cleaner Energy” and included Shell’s logo. The TV and YouTube ads, also seen in June 2022, depicted some of Shell’s business activities in 2022 and focused on more environmentally friendly energy products.
Adfree Cities challenged whether the ads were misleading.
By ruling of June 7, 2023, the Advertising Standards Authority (“ASA”) upheld that complaint.
Consumers were increasingly concerned about the environmental impact of activities related to higher-carbon products and services, and would be interested in seeking out businesses, including oil and gas companies, that were making meaningful progress towards transitioning away from higher-carbon products and services. However, they were unlikely to be aware of the details of this in relation to specific companies, and ads were therefore likely to mislead consumers if they misrepresented the contribution that lower-carbon initiatives played, or would play in the near future, as part of the overall balance of a company's activities. 
In the absence of qualifying information, the cumulative effect of the ads was to give the impression that low-carbon energy products comprised a significant proportion of the energy products Shell invested in and sold in the UK in 2022, or were likely to do so in the near future. 
Shell said they were taking steps towards net zero and promoting sustainable energy. However, according to Shell’s 2021 Sustainability Report, its operations gave rise to greenhouse gas emissions in 2021 that were estimated as equivalent to 1,375 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. Large-scale oil and gas investment and extraction comprised the vast majority of the company’s business model in 2022 and would continue to do so in the near future. Because the ads gave the overall impression that a significant proportion of Shell’s business comprised lower-carbon energy products, further information about the proportion of Shell’s overall business model that comprised lower-carbon energy products was material information that should have been included. Because the ads did not include such information, they omitted material information and were likely to mislead.
The ASA ruled that the ads must not appear again in the form complained of. The ASA told Shell to ensure their future ads featuring environmental claims did not mislead by exaggerating or, omitting material information about, the proportion of their business activities that were comprised of lower carbon activities.
A related complaint, concerning the use by UK households of renewable electricity from Shell, was not upheld. 

ASA Ruling on Shell UK Ltd (following a complaint by Adfree Cities)

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

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Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

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Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

A long-lived, colourless gas, chiefly emitted from fossil fuel combustion, deforestation and cement production.

Any compulsory, unrequited payment to the government levied on corporations or individuals. This can be for environmental reasons, such as introducing a Carbon tax to set a price that emitters must pay for the greenhouse gases they emit.

A target to reduce the prevalence of a greenhouse gas over a specific time frame

Tradable permits are market-based tools that grant permission for specific activities, frequently used to regulate emissions. These permits can be issued within a trading system to manage environmental impacts.

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

The activities of industries involved in the production, distribution, and sale of energy, including electricity, gas, and renewables.

A commitment to balance GHG emissions with removal by a certain point in time, effectively reducing the net emissions to zero

This sector creates and distributes information and entertainment through television, radio, print, and digital platforms.

woman and genders outside of the gender binary

Oil is a combustible liquid fossil fuel composed mainly of hydrocarbons, occurring as crude oil and refined into petroleum products such as petrol, diesel and kerosene.

The release of heat-trapping gases, primarily from human activities such as burning fossil fuels, agriculture and industry.

Fossil gas, commonly known as natural gas, is a fossil fuel consisting chiefly of methane with smaller amounts of other hydrocarbons and trace gases, found in underground deposits.

ASA Ruling on Shell UK Ltd (following a complaint by Adfree Cities) - decision

Target

Policy instrument

Impacted group

Renewable energy

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Finance