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How Fossil Fuel Industry Ads on Facebook Fuel Climate Misinformation

Fossil fuel companies leverage Facebook ads to spread climate misinformation and greenwashing, delaying urgent climate action.

By Medha deb

Created on Sep 27, 2025

Fossil fuel companies leverage Facebook ads to spread climate misinformation and greenwashing, delaying urgent climate action.

Despite growing awareness of climate change, the fossil fuel industry continues to exert major influence on public perception and political action through widespread marketing and advertising—nowhere more effectively than on Facebook. This article explores how oil, gas, and coal companies use digital ad campaigns to propagate climate misinformation and greenwash their brands, ultimately undermining climate action and sowing confusion among consumers and lawmakers.

Fossil Fuel Advertising in the Digital Age

For decades, fossil fuel companies relied on television, print media, and public sponsorships to shape their images. In the social media era, platforms like Facebook have become key battlegrounds for influencing public opinion about climate change.

Massive reach: Facebook’s global user base gives fossil fuel companies direct contact with millions, allowing them to micro-target specific audiences.
Disguised messaging: Ads often use emotionally appealing imagery—lush landscapes, children, science labs—coupled with reassuring language about “being part of the solution.”
Misleading content: Many of these ads promote the idea that fossil fuel companies are committed to clean energy, sustainability, and solving climate change, when, in reality, their core business remains fossil fuel extraction and sales.

How Much Are Companies Spending?

The scale of fossil fuel spending on digital ads is enormous. Recent investigations found that during critical climate conferences such as COP26, oil and gas companies and lobbying groups invested over $500,000 on political and social issue ads on Facebook, reaching tens of millions of users. Over a longer timeframe, the industry has put over $1.4 billion into advertising aimed at shaping climate narratives.

Greenwashing: Shaping Perception, Hiding Reality

Greenwashing is the practice of conveying a false impression of environmental responsibility. The fossil fuel industry routinely uses greenwashing tactics to present themselves as leaders in clean energy transitions, when their investments show otherwise.

False solutions: Ads often promote controversial technologies such as carbon capture and storage, fossil gas labeled as “green,” or minor investments in renewables to project an image of sustainability.
Biodiversity and science-friendly imagery: Visuals of forests, scientists, and pristine ecosystems distract audiences from the environmental and social harms associated with fossil fuel extraction.
Exaggeration of climate actions: Companies frequently exaggerate their contributions to climate solutions, claiming support for net-zero policies while lobbying against meaningful regulations.

The Reality: Where the Money Actually Goes

Contrary to the impression given by advertising, the vast majority of the industry’s capital expenditures remain invested in fossil fuels:

99% invested in fossil fuels, with only about 1% directed toward renewable energy or genuine low-carbon solutions over the past decade.
Public messaging diverges dramatically from business practice, with most advertising funds spent to maintain a positive public image and secure social license to operate.

The Spread of Misinformation on Facebook

Facebook’s advertising platform has come under considerable criticism for providing a venue for climate misinformation. While Facebook claims to demote posts rated as false by third-party fact-checkers and to label climate-related content, their policies toward advertising are far less strict.

Facebook does not specifically ban climate misinformation in ads, exempting political content and largely allowing paid posts to skirt moderation.
High-impact ads have described climate change as a “hoax” or sown doubt about climate science, accumulating hundreds of thousands of views before being flagged or removed.
Industry-aligned commentators and think tanks supplement fossil fuel company campaigns, amplifying denialist or skeptical narratives during key climate moments such as COP26.

Ad Type	Example Message	Reach/Impressions
Denial/Minimization	Climate change is a hoax	200,000+ views (Newsmax ad)
Greenwashing	We support net zero & green efforts	22 million+ impressions during COP26
Distraction/False Solutions	Fossil gas is green	$9.5 million spent on 25,000+ ads/promos

Facebook’s Response and the Limits of Transparency

Facing scrutiny, Facebook (now Meta) has taken limited steps to address climate misinformation:

Ad Library: The company maintains an Ad Library storing paid ads for up to seven years, promoting transparency regarding who is promoting which messages.
Climate Science Center: Facebook has launched a hub providing factual information and climate science quizzes, which receives tens of thousands of daily visits.
Content labeling: Posts about climate change are sometimes tagged with information directing users to science-based resources.

However, the platform continues to avoid comprehensive bans on climate misinformation in ads, citing principles of free expression and the complexity of balancing open discourse with the prevention of harm. They have also exempted political ads from fact-checking, allowing industry actors to keep disseminating misleading narratives with limited repercussions.

What Are the Consequences?

The ongoing presence and reach of climate misinformation and greenwashing on platforms like Facebook have real-world ramifications:

Undermining climate action: Public confusion and skepticism about climate science delay or prevent the implementation of urgently needed policy measures.
Shaping policy debates: Fossil fuel industry narratives promote regulatory rollbacks, fossil-friendly energy policies, and weaken support for systemic transition to renewables.
Distrusting science: Misinformation campaigns fuel distrust in scientific consensus on climate, playing into broader movements of denial and skepticism.

Oversight, Policy, and Banning Greenwashing Ads

Current regulations are proving insufficient to stem the flood of misleading fossil fuel advertising. While the EU’s Unfair Commercial Practices Directive is designed to prevent deceptive marketing, it is often inadequate or underutilized regarding greenwashing in the energy sector.

Enforcement is piecemeal, requiring laborious case-by-case challenges to individual campaigns or advertisements.
Experts argue that the scale and frequency of greenwashing by fossil fuel companies demand a full ban on fossil fuel advertising, much like longstanding bans on tobacco advertisements.

International Trends: Moving Towards Ad Bans

Some jurisdictions and regulatory bodies are exploring or enacting bans on fossil fuel advertising, particularly when such advertisements contain false or misleading information about environmental impacts.
Advocacy groups continue to pressure large digital platforms for stricter enforcement, expanded content moderation, and ad prohibitions related to climate disinformation.

What Actions Can Be Taken?

To decrease the influence of misleading fossil fuel marketing in public discourse, collective efforts are required:

Stronger regulation: Governments should develop and enforce more robust rules around deceptive green claims and fossil fuel publicity.
Platform accountability: Social media platforms must extend fact-checking standards to all ads—not just user posts—and swiftly remove those found to be spreading false or misleading climate-related narratives.
Consumer education: Increasing public awareness of greenwashing tactics and helping people differentiate between genuine climate action and PR spin are crucial steps in building public resilience to misinformation.
Litigation and complaints: Legal mechanisms, such as complaints to consumer protection agencies or lawsuits over false advertising, can pressure companies to be more honest about their environmental impact and activities.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: What is greenwashing in fossil fuel advertising?

A: Greenwashing occurs when fossil fuel companies present themselves as environmentally friendly through advertising or PR while continuing to heavily invest in polluting extraction and production.

Q: Why hasn’t Facebook banned fossil fuel ads or climate misinformation ads?

A: Facebook says it balances free expression with content moderation and only removes posts or ads that pose imminent real-world harm, exempting political ads and allowing a significant amount of misleading climate content through.

Q: How much do fossil fuel companies actually invest in renewable energy?

A: On average, less than 1% of fossil fuel industry investments go toward renewables, despite heavy ad campaigns suggesting otherwise.

Q: What can be done to stop the spread of climate misinformation on social media?

A: Solutions include stricter regulation of fossil fuel advertising, expansion of fact-checking to all paid ads, public education about greenwashing, and potential bans on misleading environmental claims from fossil fuel companies.

Conclusion: Changing the Narrative

The gap between fossil fuel companies’ climate rhetoric and reality remains wide, especially when magnified through Facebook’s vast ad ecosystem. Until tech giants and regulators enforce more rigorous standards around climate-related advertising, these companies will continue to shape public discourse, delay effective climate action, and obscure the truth about the causes and solutions to global warming.

References

Author

medha deb

Medha Deb is an editor with a master's degree in Applied Linguistics from the University of Hyderabad. She believes that her qualification has helped her develop a deep understanding of language and its application in various contexts.

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