Greenpeace alters Total billboards in Edmonton to be more honest

The billboards in Canada—as well as the banners were hung in France— targeted Total’s controversial tar sands investments. The original Total billboards feature trees reflected as an upgrader below them, bearing the words, “Commitment to the Environment.” Greenpeace has added words to two billboards in Edmonton, one in each national language, and replaced the image of the upgrader with an oily reflection of the trees.

The billboards now read, “Commitment to Destroy the Environment” in English, and in French, “On s’engage pour la Destruction de L’environment.” Where Total’s logo and name are, the word “Destruction” has been added.

Photos of the billboards in Edmonton and the action in France at gallery.greenpeace.ca

Total S.A., Europe’s third-largest oil company, proposes to invest nearly $10 billion in tar sands projects over the next decade. Greenhouse gas emissions from Total’s proposed mining project could be nearly two million tonnes a year, or 45 kg per barrel. That’s nearly three times the average for North Sea production.

“Trying to convince the world that upgraders are clean or that tar sands can be produced in a green way is totally misleading and dishonest,” said Greenpeace climate and energy campaigner Mike Hudema. “These new billboards reflect a much more accurate picture of the climate crimes that Total will generate in the tar sands.”

The Canadian code of advertising standards dictates that all advertising must be truthful, fair and accurate. Total’s billboards that state they are, “respecting the environment through technological progress” are certainly none of those.

The text on the ads, which are running in Canada, China, the Middle East and Europe, goes on to explain how Total is developing the tar sands in an “environmentally responsible” way.

Yet just two years ago, Total’s pilot InSitu project, Joslyn, went dramatically wrong when it sprouted a major leak that created a 300-metre crater in the Boreal Forest. Total had to shut down their entire $30-million project and abandon SAGD as a method of extraction and return to open-pit mining.

Yesterday in France, 30 activists, including Eryn Wheatley, an activist from Greenpeace Canada, hung two larger banners that read, “Total invests in sustainable destruction” and “climate crime.” While the activities were ongoing, activists in Edmonton completed the rebranding of the billboards to bridge the campaign between the countries. The activists were in place in France for 14 hours and came down at midnight yesterday without any arrests.