"Lawyers lodge complaint over BP's 'misleading' ad campaign’", 4 Dec 2019

Environmental lawyers have lodged a complaint against a multimillion pound global advertising campaign by BP, which they said was misleading the public with its claims of commitment to a low carbon future.

ClientEarth is calling for the BP ads to be banned unless they include a health warning saying that using the company’s oil and gas products creates greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to the climate crisis.

The warning would be similar to that placed prominently on cigarette packets.

In a detailed complaint to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the legal NGO ClientEarth argued the ad campaign breached international guidelines governing corporate conduct...

BP said: “We have not seen this complaint, but we strongly reject the suggestion that our advertising is misleading. BP has clearly said that the world is on an unsustainable path and must do more to reduce emissions. We support a rapid transition of the world’s energy system.

“BP is of course well-known as a major oil and gas producer. We are also committed to advancing a low carbon future. So one of the purposes of this advertising campaign is to let people know about some of the possibilities we see to do that, for example in wind, solar and electric vehicle charging, as well as in natural gas and advanced fuels.” ...