Fossil fuel greenwash

The report argues that BP and Shell engage in greenwashing by promoting environmentally friendly narratives on social media that are not supported by their core business investments. It finds that both companies disproportionately showcase green projects while continuing massive investments in fossil fuels, potentially breaching the UK's Green Claims Code. Additionally, it highlights Shell's failure to declare political ads on Meta platforms and Meta's failure to detect and enforce its own transparency requirements.

• BP and Shell's digital promotions likely breach the UK Government's Green Claims Code by using selective storytelling to present an environmentally friendly image that is not representative of their core business, which remains dominated by fossil fuels.
• BP significantly increased its spending on greenwashing advertisements on Facebook and Instagram in the first seven months of 2022, more than doubling its 2021 expenditure.
• Shell consistently failed to self-declare its environmental advertisements on Meta platforms as 'political', which is a requirement for ads concerning 'environmental politics' in the UK to ensure transparency.
• Meta's ad detection systems failed to identify Shell's political ads, allowing the company to republish identical content multiple times even after the ads had been previously flagged and removed.
• There is a stark disparity between the companies' green marketing and their actual capital expenditure; for example, in the first half of 2022, BP spent approximately £3.1 billion on new oil and gas projects compared to about £300 million on 'low carbon' energy.
• Analysis of Twitter image posts from the first seven months of 2022 shows that the majority of visual content from both companies depicts renewable energy or electric vehicle infrastructure, omitting their primary fossil fuel activities.

APA

Global Witness (n.d.). Fossil fuel greenwash. https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/fossil-fuels/fossil-fuel-greenwash/

Chicago

Global Witness. Fossil fuel greenwash. n.d. https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/fossil-fuels/fossil-fuel-greenwash/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Global Witness |title=Fossil fuel greenwash |url=https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/fossil-fuels/fossil-fuel-greenwash/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{globalwitnessndfossil, author = {{Global Witness}}, title = {{Fossil fuel greenwash}}, institution = {Global Witness}, url = {https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/fossil-fuels/fossil-fuel-greenwash/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }