If we want a just energy transition, we need coherence
The climate crisis is the biggest threat to health and the environment in the 21st century, according to reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which is composed of thousands of scientists and researchers from around the world.
Worldwide, air pollution caused primarily by the burning of fossil fuels kills more than 7 million people each year, accounting for 1 in 5 deaths globally. According to Adriano Santhiago, a representative of Brazil’s Ministry of the Environment, about 80% of greenhouse gas emissions come from the burning of fossil fuels. And according to the IPCC, globally, the sectors responsible for the largest share of emissions are, in order, the energy sector, the transportation sector, and industry.
In this context, the fossil fuel industry continues to use advertising to normalize the climate crisis and encourage unsustainable consumption and lifestyles, normalize the use of harmful polluting products, and promote greenwashing (lavagem verde).
Just as the tobacco industry did in the past, these companies use advertising to delay climate action, mislead the public, and influence political decisions.
On the other hand, Brazilian legislation has already demonstrated—in the case of tobacco, for example—that it does not promote measures that threaten public health and people’s lives. Legislative action on climate change is one of the main forces driving, first, transformative structural policies, and, above all, bringing issues of great importance—such as the phase-out of fossil fuels—into the public debate.
It is in this context that we launched the BAN FOSSIL FUEL ADS campaign. Because we can no longer advertise what we need to overcome.
▪️What is the “BAN FOSSIL FUEL ADS” campaign?
We want to put Brazil and other Latin American countries—and their municipalities—on the map of territories that have begun to phase out fossil fuel advertising, adding our continent to the major global campaign to end advertising for and about fossil fuels.
How can you get involved?
🔗If you are a member of parliament and would like to support the bill that bans and restricts fossil fuel advertising, please fill out this 1-minute form. At the end of the form, You will have access to a PDF containing information about the campaign; an initial draft of the bill to be filed in your country (in English and Spanish): https://forms.gle/xT5TtNcMW5TRAHb4A
🔗If you are a member of civil society, access the campaign materials (including a PDF with more information and social media assets): https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xSOyenUhl19YGhFDfVRqztuHMY4w5rBE?usp=sharing
▪️3 key narratives
1. Health – Promoting fossil fuels means promoting a proven risk to health and life by causing pollution and climate disruption. Just as we do not accept advertising for products that are harmful to health, such as cigarettes, we cannot continue to allow the positive promotion of an industry that threatens life on Earth.
2. Cultural – The "new normal" is to break our dependence on the fossil fuel industry. For years, the fossil fuel industry has invested billions to make itself seem inevitable, and advertising has helped to create this sense of normality. The new normal is not to simply live with the crisis; it is to stop perpetuating it.
3. Political – There can be no just transition while promoting fossil fuels. If we are mapping out national and international pathways to phase out fossil fuels and enable a just energy transition, we need consistency. It makes no sense to plan for the transition while continuing to promote the very problem we are trying to solve. Furthermore, this bill has low implementation costs, a significant impact on behavior, and a solid legal basis.
▪️Why through the legislative process?
We believe that members of the Legislative have the legitimacy, responsibility, and potential to raise important issues for public discussion.
▪️Who is funding this campaign?
The campaign is executed exclusively using the human and institutional resources of the Clima de Política Institute.
▪️Quem apoia a campanha?
Rede A Ponte (co-realizadores)
O Tempo Virou
Observatório do Clima
A Ponte
350.org
Engajamundo
Rede Vozes Negras pelo Clima
Instituto de Políticas de Transporte e Desenvolvimento | ITDP
Youth Climate Leaders
Talanoa
Projeto Saúde e Alegria
Arayara
Associação Alternativa Terra Azul
ClimaInfo
▪️Who is the sponsor of Bill 1748/2026 in Brazil?
The bill was introduced by Federal Deputy Nilto Tatto. To learn more about the federal bill, visit: https://www.camara.leg.br/proposicoesWeb/fichadetramitacao?idProposicao=2615182
