Lloyds Bank advert banned by watchdog over 'misleading' low carbon claims
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Lloyds Bank has been accused of misleading consumers by a watchdog, for advertising its efforts to reduce its carbon footprint without mentioning its "significant" ongoing financing of fossil fuel companies. The bank's LinkedIn post in May asked: "What are we doing to help accelerate the transition to a low carbon economy? It then claimed that the bank was "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 animated video within the post depicted electricity from a power station powering buildings and an electric vehicle, which then drove through agricultural land and growing woodland. Campaign group Adfree Cities lodged a complaint that the ad, along with three others for the bank which were cleared, misled customers by omitting significant information about Lloyds’ contribution to carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Lloyds defended the ad’s claims as "factually accurate and substantiable", adding that it included balancing information acknowledging its involvement with carbon intensive industries, and that it was "continuing to reduce" its reliance on fossil fuels. The bank provided the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) with a copy of its 2023 Sustainability Report, which revealed the group had financed emissions amounting to 33 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent the previous year.
The ASA pointed out that the ad specifically stated that Lloyds was putting the "weight of our finance" into renewable energy. The watchdog commented: "We understood Lloyds was taking steps towards net zero and promoting sustainability to its customers.".
