Fossil fuel is responsible for 8.7 millions deaths world wide.

Taking a page from the tobacco industry’s playbook, fossil fuel companies are running ads that lie about the known health and environmental hazards of their products. And it’s perfectly legal.

Case in point? Gas companies like FortisBC falsely advertising that ‘natural’ gas is a clean and safe fuel, while not being required to tell its customers that children living in homes with gas stoves have up to a 42% increased risk of asthma (that’s comparable to living with a smoker).

These days Canada regulates advertising for tobacco, but still allows fossil fuel companies to get away with similar misinformation and greenwashing. This has to stop.

That’s why we’re joining over 700,000 Canadian health professionals who are urging the federal government to stop fossil fuel advertising, and put the health of people and the planet before fossil fuel profits. Click here to sign the petition.  

SIGN NOWWe all know that burning fossil fuels is what’s driving climate change – but it’s also time to reckon with the health impacts that are already affecting people in their homes and everyday lives. Fossil fuel air pollution is responsible for 8.7 million deaths per year worldwide (that’s more than from tobacco use). A shocking 86% of Canadians live in areas where air pollution exceeds the guidelines issued by the World Health Organization, resulting in 34,000 premature deaths in Canada each year. We also know that air pollution caused by burning fossil fuels for transportation increases the risk of illness and death from COVID-19. That’s on top of the warming impacts of climate change itself, including last year’s heat dome during which nearly 600 people died in British Columbia in just one week.

This is information that Canadians deserve to know – and we could – if fossil fuel companies were made to disclose these risks in their advertising.

Canada already regulates advertising for tobacco, cannabis, alcohol, gambling, credit cards, therapeutic services, prescription drugs, natural health products, food, and promotional contests. Why not start regulating advertising for fossil fuels that are directly threatening public and planetary health? People in Canada deserve the whole truth.

If you agree with the over half a million health professionals campaigning on this issue, click here to add your voice and help pressure the Canadian government to stop fossil fuel advertising.

I know that banning fossil fuel advertising sounds like an ambitious ask – but controlling tobacco advertising once seemed out of reach too, until it wasn’t.

And it’s in moments like these when the Stand.earth community does its best work. Over the past 20+ years, we’ve worked to protect millions of acres of forests from extractive industries. We’ve gone up against multinational oil, gas, and coal companies worth billions of dollars and come out victorious, blocking dozens of their projects that would have poisoned local communities and accelerated the climate crisis. We’ve shifted billions of dollars of purchasing from corporate powerhouses like Starbucks, Staples, and Levi’s onto sustainable pathways.

So thank you, Nelson, for being the driver of so many important wins. Greenwashing through advertising is simply the latest strategy being employed by fossil fuel companies who can no longer get away with blatant climate denial, and I know we won’t let them get away with it.

Click here to take action and sign the petition to stop fossil fuel advertising.

Solaye Snider
Senior Digital Campaigner
Stand.earth