A Lloyds Banking Group advert has been banned for making false environmental claims, making it the second major lender to break the UK advertising watchdog’s rules against greenwashing.
The ruling by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) follows an investigation into a billboard poster and three paid-for posts on the networking website LinkedIn, all of which hailed the lender’s climate credentials.
Bristol-based campaign group Adfree Cities reported the ads to the ASA earlier this year, claiming they were misleading and omitted “significant information” about the banking group’s CO2 and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
The ASA upheld a portion of the complaint, banning one of the LinkedIn adverts for failing to provide balanced information about the fact that Lloyds had continued to finance polluting industries.
The offending post read: “We’re committed to supporting the energy transition, by continuing to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and putting the weight of our finance into clean and renewable energy.”
An embedded video showed an animated electric car driving through a suburban area before descending into the countryside, passing hay bales and a forest. A final scene showed the Earth with the text “Helping Britain Prosper”, with the word “Prosper” in green.
The advertising watchdog said the post “gave the general impression that renewable energy formed a significant proportion of Lloyds’ investments and the companies it financed”.
However, that contradicted Lloyds’ 2023 sustainability report, which said the amount of emissions supported by its financing was equivalent to 32.8m tonnes of carbon dioxide. The ASA said that represented “a large contribution to GHG emissions”.
The ASA said: “We considered that meant, despite the impression given in [the] ad, Lloyds was continuing to significantly finance businesses and industries that emitted notable levels of carbon dioxide and other GHGs.
“That was material information that was likely to affect consumers’ understanding of the ad’s overall message, and so should have been made clear.”
The watchdog said Lloyds had to ensure that any future environmental claims did not mislead the public, or exclude “significant information which put the claims into context and helped with consumer understanding of the message”.
Lloyds is the second high street bank to breach ASA rules over greenwashing, after a crackdown on HSBC adverts in 2022.
HSBC adverts highlighted how the bank had invested $1tn in climate-friendly initiatives such as tree-planting and helping clients hit climate targets, but failed to acknowledge the bank’s own contribution to carbon emissions.
Adfree Cities is now calling for tobacco-style laws to end advertising by major polluters, including banks that finance fossil fuels.
Responding to the ASA ruling, Lloyds said: “We remain committed to supporting transparent public discussion of this important issue.
“The ASA council outcome relates to a single LinkedIn post for a sustainability awareness day, which will not be repeated.
“Reducing the environmental impact of our business remains a fundamental part of our strategy and we will continue to work alongside customers, the government, and the market to reach net zero by 2050 or sooner.”
• This article was amended on 18 December 2024. Owing to information provided by the ASA, an earlier version said the banned LinkedIn post had been made by the marketing agency adam&eveDDB. In fact the agency was only behind the billboard poster, which was investigated and found not to break ASA rules.
