Shell Oil and The Calgary Herald lead Oilsands Greenwashing campaign
From PR Watch
The UK Advertising Standards Authority ruled that a Shell ad describing Canada’s oilsands as “sustainable” was “misleading.” The advertising regulator noted the “considerable social and environmental impacts” of oilsands development, adding that Shell has not explained how it will manage “carbon emissions from its oilsands projects in order to limit climate change.”
The World Wildlife Fund filed a complaint accusing Shell of “greenwashing,” after the ad appeared in the Financial Times. Shell agreed not to run the ad again.
The UK Ad watchdog pointed out that oilsands development “uses enormous amounts of fresh water and natural gas and produces about three times as much greenhouse gas emissions as conventional oil output.”
This year, Alberta launched a three-year, $25-million p.r. campaign to sell the oilsands. This week they flew Warren Buffet and Bill Gates to the site to show the super-rich what a sound, clean investment the oil sands was.
Calgary Herald business editor Charles Frank shows opined: “We have to reframe the debate … if we are to have even the faintest hope of making sure this province’s most valuable resource isn’t sabotaged by people and organizations who do not have our best interests at heart.”
