ASA Adjudication on British Gas Trading Ltd

Ad

A TV ad for green energy from British Gas showed a cartoon blue gas flame falling amongst the text “CO2” with the voice-over claiming “Of all the major suppliers in Britain our CO2 emissions for electricity are already the lowest”. The blue flame landed in the text “CO2” and squashed the “O”. The voice-over continued “and our new dual fuel package is our greenest. With zero carbon.” The blue flame became coloured green and pushed away the “C” and the “2” with smallprint at the bottom of the screen that stated “Relates to offsetting schemes”.

Issue

Fourteen viewers challenged the claim "zero carbon", because they believed it implied the fuel used was carbon free and did not produce carbon dioxide, whereas they understood that, as a fossil fuel, carbon dioxide would be a by-product of its use.

BCAP TV Code

Response

British Gas Trading Ltd (British Gas) explained that Zero Carbon was the name of their domestic dual tariff for gas and electricity that resulted in a net impact of zero for carbon emissions for each customer on it.  They explained that the tariff was backed by 100 percent renewable electricity, and that they offset the carbon emissions associated with the gas and electricity they supplied under the tariff for any energy use that was not backed by a Renewable Obligation Certificate (ROC).  They explained that they calculated the emissions generated by their customers actual energy use and that they were then offset.  They said they used offsetting schemes that were regulated under the Kyoto Protocol of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which met the suggested best practice code for offsetting schemes from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).  They pointed out that the tariff was not designed to offset all carbon emissions for the electricity generation lifecycle and the ad had not claimed that it would.  

They explained that they had carried out qualitative consumer research for the ad and provided examples of three positive comments that showed the visuals and the voice-over of the TV ad had delivered the message they had intended to consumers.  They pointed out that the footnote stated "Refers to offsetting schemes" and they believed that made clear that carbon emissions were expected and that they would be dealt with through an offsetting scheme.

The Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre said the claim "zero carbon" had been considered as acceptable by them, because the qualifying footnote "Relates to offsetting schemes" appeared beside it and the voice-over at the beginning of the ad stated " ...our CO2 emissions for electricity are already the lowest",  making clear that carbon was produced.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA understood that the gas supplied under the "Zero Carbon" tariff would always produce carbon emissions when used.  We noted the comments of British Gas and the BACC, but we considered that the claim "with zero carbon" and the associated images would be likely to be interpreted by viewers to mean that the energy supplied was carbon free or produced no carbon emissions.  We acknowledged that the purpose of carbon offsetting schemes was to compensate for the emissions produced by making an equivalent carbon dioxide saving, meaning that the overall effect was zero.  However, we considered that viewers were likely to infer from the claim that gas supplied by British Gas was carbon free.  Because it was not, we considered that the superimposed text "Relates to offsetting schemes" contradicted the overall impression of the ad and concluded that the ad could mislead.

The ad breached CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rules 5.1 (Misleading advertising), 5.2.1 (Evidence), 5.2.2 (Implications), 5.2.3 (Qualifications), and 5.2.6 (Environmental Claims).

Action

The ad should not be repeated in its current form.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)