Climate change is currently at the center of many public discussions. Following the Paris Agreement, the government must make efforts to limit global warming. In the Urgenda case, the court ruled in 2018 that the State must fulfill the environmental agreements in international treaties, including by reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 25% by 2020.
It is not only the State that bears responsibility for combating climate change. Multinational corporations whose business activities play a major role in environmental pollution are also being scrutinized and called to the energy transition.
Serious environmental pollution and the resulting insecurity in the living environment affects the well-being of citizens. After all, people’s conditions of existence are affected. Therefore, there is the right to protection against serious environmental damage and its consequences. Under Article 21 of the Constitution, the government must ensure the habitability of the land and the protection and improvement of the living environment. In addition, serious environmental pollution will violate the right to life under Article 2 ECHR and Article 6 ICCPR and the right to respect for private and family life under Article 8 ECHR and Article 17 ICCPR.
Complaint against Shell at the Advertising Code Committee
On May 2, 2019, Fossil-Free Education, supported by the PILP-NJCM, filed a complaint against Shell with the Advertising Code Committee over misleading advertising. The complaint is directed against Shell’s advertising about GTL Fuel on an information board placed next to the Ferris wheel at the Generation Discover Festival 2018, a Shell festival for elementary and junior high school children. That advertisement contained misleading environmental claims about GTL Fuel, the complaint said.
The misleading aspect of the billboard was threefold. First, it gave the impression that GTL belongs to one of the clean energy sources, which it is not. In fact, GTL is a fossil fuel, liquefied natural gas. Second, the information board described that the Ferris wheel was powered by GTL Fuel, thus contributing to the UN sustainable development goals. However, the relevant objective was misquoted: instead of “clean energy,” the information board read “cleaner energy. Third, GTL was touted as a cleaner alternative to diesel, while that claim cannot be supported with scientific research when the total environmental impact of GTL – including the emissions caused in its production – is included.
The Advertising Code Committee (‘RCC’) rejected the complaint in its decision of August 5, 2019. Fossil Free Education and PILP-NJCM appealed this decision to the Board of Appeal (“The Board”).
On October 29, 2019, the Board upheld the complaint. PILP-NJCM and Fossil-Free Education are very pleased with the outcome of these proceedings.
The Board does consider Shell’s advertising contrary to article 2 of the Environmental Advertising Code, contrary to the opinion of the RCC. Shell has been ordered not to include such misleading environmental claims in advertising for GTL. Read more about this in the news item.
International Convention on the Rights of the Child
Because Shell’s advertising with its misleading environmental claims was aimed at elementary and junior high school children, the rights of the child are also important in this case. The children attending the festival were of highly impressionable ages and therefore susceptible to misleading advertising. Under Article 3 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the best interests of the child must be paramount at all times. They should be protected from information that may be harmful to their well-being, including advertising that contains misleading environmental claims.
