ESG Newsletter: Will an ad-ban make fossil fuels go the way of tobacco?
The ESG newsletter at the Business Post is your source for the news that matters in environmental, social and governance, all told from an Irish perspective
Charles Haughey introduced the first restrictions on tobacco advertising in 1978 as health minister, which overtime accumulated to a total ban on all advertising n 2009.
Despite the weight of evidence on the harms of smoking that was already well established, it was a long 30-year long journey.
We now have a similar weight of evidence on the damage fossil fuels are doing to the planet, and environmentalists are hoping the launch of a new bill to ban the advertisement of fossil fuels won’t turn into a 30-year war of attrition.
As I reported earlier in the week, Eamon Ryan has said he is not opposed in principle to a new bill which seeks to ban sponsorship by fossil fuel companies or the advertising of fossil fuels, fossil fuelled cars, and flights.
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Paul Murphy, the Solidarity-People Before Profit TD, who introduced the bill said it was “obscene” that a company such as Texaco could sponsor a children’s art competition, or that car companies and airlines could continue to advertise.
He compared the party’s proposal to the ban on tobacco advertising.
Ryan, the minister for environment, said “I think they have a point firstly that we have a climate emergency and at the same time you wouldn’t know that looking at some of the advertising you see.”
But he questioned the practicality of the ban.
The likelihood of the bill being supported by this government in the near term seems low, but I wouldn’t bet on it taking 30-years for some form of advertising ban on fossil fuels to be put in place.
Thanks for reading,
Daniel Murray
Policy Editor
Around the world
Europe is the fastest-warming continent and its temperatures are rising at roughly twice the global average, according to two top climate monitoring organisations, warning of the consequences for human health, glacier melt and economic activity.
As reported by EuroNews, The latest five-year averages show that temperatures in Europe are now running 2.3 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, compared to 1.3C higher globally, a joint report published Monday by the UN's World Meteorological Organization and the European Union's climate agency, Copernicus, said.
“Europe saw yet another year of increasing temperatures and intensifying climate extremes - including heat stress with record temperatures, wildfires, heat waves, glacier ice loss and lack of snowfall,” Elisabeth Hamdouch, the deputy head of unit for Copernicus at the EU’s executive commission, said.
The UN's World Meteorological Organization and the European Union's climate agency, Copernicus, said in a joint report that the continent has the opportunity to develop targeted strategies to speed up the transition to renewable resources like wind, solar and hydroelectric power in response to the effects of climate change.
