Climate crisis activists have dreamed up a campaign that they bombastically call a “treaty” to ban advertising of high-carbon products – in other words, anything they, or their sponsors, don’t like. These groups are not working alone; they are politically funded and politically motivated.
They are making moves to ban advertisements of motor vehicles and air travel, and the latest “fossil fuel” adverts being targeted is meat. You read that right, meat is being treated the same as a “fossil fuel” according to the Council of the Dutch City of Haarlem which has included meat on their list of “banned fossil fuel endorsements.”
Fossil Fuel “Treaty”
At the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (“COP26”) in Glasgow, the Netherlands joined 25 countries and institutions that committed to end public financing of coal, oil and gas projects by the end of 2022. The US, Canada and the UK were among the countries committed to stop new direct support to fossil fuels by 2022, along with Denmark, Finland, Mali, Costa Rica and South Sudan. The European Investment Bank (“EIB”) is also party to the deal.
Calls for a “Fossil Fuel Treaty” began in 2018 with an op-ed in the Guardian. A few years later, during the 2020 Climate Week NYC at an event called ‘International Cooperation to Align Fossil Fuel Production with a 1.5°C World’, the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation “Treaty” Initiative was launched.
Indicating that activists were leaning towards extremism, the campaign for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation “Treaty” was “inspired by treaties that addressed the threats of nuclear weapons, landmines and other dangerous substances,” its website states.
At COP26 in 2021, “a group of young climate activists delivered a sharp rebuke to delegates … demanding that a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty be put in place and calling out global leaders for their continued closeness to the coal, oil and gas industries,” CNN reported. The “young climate activists” were from the Greta Thunberg inspired group Fridays for Future who are part of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation “Treaty” network pushing for the phasing out of fossil fuels.
In February 2022, Amsterdam became the latest in a wave of cities to endorse the Fossil Fuel “Treaty”. By 17 November 2022, seventy cities and local governments worldwide had signed support for the “treaty.” The “treaty” has also been endorsed by the Vatican, the World Health Organisation, the European Parliament, Nobel laureates, academics, researchers and activists.
A treaty is an express agreement between nations under international law. The Fossil Fuel “Treaty” is not a treaty, it is a statement written by a network of activists.
At the same time that Amsterdam joined the so-called “treaty” (which is not a treaty), Dutch activists were also calling for Amsterdam to ban fossil fuel advertising calling for a “tobacco law for the fossil industry.”
In May 2021, Amsterdam had already banned adverts promoting high-carbon products and services in its metro network including adverts for fossil-fuelled cars and flights. The advert banning farce had begun a year before when a legislative motion was passed in December 2020, supported by the GroenLinks (Green-Left) Party, and a collection of smaller political parties.
Read More: Climate crisis activists seek to put meat on their list of banned “fossil fuel” adverts
