Comms Declare’s submission to the Climate Change Amendment (Duty of Care and Intergenerational Climate Equity) Bill 2023 states:
As the voice of climate action in the marketing industries, we support this Bill and urge the parliament to support it.
It recognises that current laws do not protect future generations from the effects of climate change and that meaningful climate action includes Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions reductions across the whole economy. Scope 3 emissions includes “advertised emissions” – the emissions created by promoting high-emissions products.
Fossil fuel companies are directly targeting young people. Shell Australia and Ampol both run campaigns on Instagram and TikTok – using influencers to persuade younger audiences that their products are harmless, desirable and even cool. There are more than 60 programs where fossil fuel companies have access to millions of school children.
Read more about fossil fuels in schools.
In addition to supporting the Bill we also recommend:
- Federal legislation banning advertising and sponsorships for coal, petroleum and gas products, similar to tobacco advertising bans.
- That advertising for high emissions products such as airlines and vehicles carry government-mandated labels revealing emissions information.
- That fossil fuel companies are banned from providing education or award programs in schools.
