Greenpeace Blocks Shell's Rotterdam Refinery. Wants Ban On Fossil Fuel Ads.

More than 80 Greenpeace activists from 12 EU countries used fossil fuel ads from all over Europe to block the entrance to Shell’s refinery in the port of Rotterdam.

Greenpeace said in a statement that the protest came following 20 organizations launching a "European Citizens' Initiative" campaign today, calling for a new law that bans fossil fuel advertising and sponsorship in the European Union.

"We're blocking Europe’s largest oil refinery with the very same ads that the fossil fuel industry uses to deceive the public about their responsibility for climate breakdown," Lead organizer of the European Citizens’ Initiative and Greenpeace EU climate and energy campaigner Silvia Pastorelli said.

"Fossil fuel companies, car companies, and airlines have refused to change their polluting business but use ads and sponsorships to present themselves as the solution to the climate crisis they caused. We’re asking the public to make their voices heard and demand an EU ban on fossil fuel ads," she added.

Also, Greenpeace’s 33-meter-long sailing ship Beluga II dropped anchor at 9:00 AM local time on Monday at the entrance to Shell’s refinery. Activists in kayaks, canoes, and inflatable boats formed a second blockade on the water.

Another group built a barrier on the water with fossil fuel ads, collected by volunteers across Europe, attached to 22 huge floating cubes. Meanwhile, nine climbers scaled a 15-meter oil storage tank and attached ads next to Shell’s logo.

Under the aforementioned initiative, Greenpeace is urging people to sign "Ban Fossil Fuel Advertising and Sponsorships" which proposes a ban on any advertisement or sponsorship in the European Union by companies selling fossil fuels, vehicles running on fossil fuels, and flights or ferries that run on fossil fuels.

Greenpeace claimed that the European Commission is obligated to respond if the campaign gathers one million verified signatures in support of the proposal.

The environmental group was particularly harsh towards Shell as it quoted research by journalists at DeSmog, commissioned by Greenpeace Netherlands, which found that the Anglo-Dutch energy major runs "one of the most misleading campaigns, with 81 percent greenwashing adverts and promotions in comparison to their 80 percent investment in oil and gas in the coming years."

"Shell seems to have lost touch with reality by promoting delusional advertising to convince us that they are leading the energy revolution," Greenpeace Netherlands’ head of climate and energy campaign Faiza Oulahsen claimed.

"With less than a month before the UN climate summit we expect to see more of this slick PR strategy from the fossil fuel industry and we need to be ready to call it out. This dangerous propaganda has enabled the most polluting companies to stay afloat, now it’s time to take this life jacket away from them."

Greenpeace also said that the DeSmog research assessed over 3,000 adverts published on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube since the launch of the European Green Deal – from December 2019 to April 2021.

The six companies analyzed by the research were Shell, Total Energies, Preem, Eni, Repsol, and Fortum. According to the results of the research, only 16 percent of the advertisements analyzed were "explicitly for fossil fuel products, despite the fact that this is the majority business of all six companies."

To contact the author, email bojan.lepic@rigzone.com. Photo by Martine Kamara/Greenpeace.