A Spanish electric company is taking an oil company to court over alleged greenwashing in their advertising, the latest in a growing group of dirty energy companies to be hit with such allegations.
According to The Corner, oil and gas company Repsol was taken to court by Iberdrola, who alleged Repsol was engaged in "unfair competition" and "misleading advertising." Specifically, Iberdrola claimed that Repsol violated clauses in the Unfair Competition Law regarding acts of deception, misleading omissions, and illegal advertising.
Iberdrola alleged Repsol was promoting sustainable initiatives, "when its multiproduct offering seeks to encourage the use of fuels," and also "focusing on sustainability when it constitutes a minor element of its current activities."
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Greenwashing comes in many forms, but at its base, it's defined as using investment in green initiatives to distract from a company's polluting actions, while making little effort to actually stop those planet-warming practices. For example, a company can donate to groups that focus on replanting and preserving forests while also engaging in damaging lumber practices.
In the case of oil companies, they frequently promote their clean energy initiatives around things like solar and wind energy, while the vast majority of their investment remains in the collection and processing of planet-warming oil and gas.
More and more companies are being taken to task over deceptive advertising practices. In Australia, oil juggernaut Santos is being sued for greenwashing over its allegedly deceptive plans to reduce its carbon footprint. Shell is facing 70 complaints of misleading advertising in the U.K. and could face sanctions. Exxon was recently accused of widespread greenwashing in their ad campaign, knowingly pushing initiatives in advertising that represented a small percentage of their actual energy portfolio.
If you want to help bring an end to these kinds of deceptive campaigns, the best way to do it is to contact your representatives and push them to implement initiatives to hold oil and gas companies accountable. On a more direct level, investing in solar panels for your own home is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint.
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