Toyota’s annual CO2 emissions are Higher than most oil and gas companiesToyota, which lost its reputation for being an early adopter of hybrid vehicles, has become a major obstacle to the transition to cleaner, all-electric vehicles and has tried to block legislation that would accelerate the transition. Toyota plans to exceed its Paris Climate Agreement emissions targets by 2020. 184 percent.
Global steel giant ArcelorMittal caused emissions of 114.3 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2022. Equivalent to the Belgian oneevery year.
The Olympics promote an image of health, youth and vitality, but allowing major climate polluters such as the aviation and automotive industries, which have a huge impact on the environment, to hijack the spirit of the Olympics seems like a betrayal of the athletes and fans for whom the Olympics are organised.
Human race
The environmental records of these companies are in stark contrast to the professed ambitions and values ​​of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Etienne Stott, a gold medalist at the London 2012 Games, said: “The Olympics should celebrate the highest achievements of humanity. But Paris is celebrating the corporations that are condemning humanity to more heat, more drought and rising seas.”
“If the Olympics is to take its traditions seriously and not let down its millions of fans and incredible athletes, it must abandon these major polluters and adapt to the realities of a warmer world.”
Laura Baldwin, a British sailor who competed in the Athens Games in 2004, said: “Around the world, the effects of the worsening climate crisis are visible, and yet the Olympics continue to maintain intimate relations with the polluters who are accomplices in creating the crisis we all face.”
“This situation is intolerable. Sport is changing before our eyes and faces a dangerous future unless urgent action is taken. The Olympic Games can be a powerful vehicle for implementing that action, uniting humanity through sport and community. But on its current trajectory, the Olympics risk becoming yet another casualty of climate change.”
Was fooled
of olympic smoke rings The report calls on the International Olympic Committee to cut ties with all tainted sponsors who are undermining the future of the Olympics and jeopardizing the Olympic and Paralympic athletes who make the Olympics such a special and popular global event.
It also calls on Olympic governments to include emissions associated with each sponsor and corporate partner in their Olympic climate targets, strategies and reporting, and for national Olympic committees to do the same.
British Paralympic athlete Anna Turney said: “Unless urgent climate action is taken, the future of the Olympic and Paralympic Games looks bleak.”
“The IOC and host cities should be leading this action, driving change and safeguarding the future of sport and all those who love it. Instead they continue to oppose climate policy and promote high-carbon companies that pollute our oceans and skies.”
“This form of advertising cannot be allowed to be normalised. The public was deceived by tobacco and we cannot allow the same mistakes to be repeated with a polluting industry.”
destruction
Sport is a sector with close ties to carbon-intensive corporations and petrostates, but some sports organisations are actively refusing to make lucrative deals with polluting companies for fear of public backlash and reputational damage.
In 2022, Tennis Australia, the country’s governing body for tennis and the country’s major opens and cups, faced pressure from a grassroots campaign to drop oil and gas giant Santos as a sponsor, one year into a multi-year deal.
The following year, the Rugby Football Union (RFU), which governs both grassroots and elite levels of rugby, turned down a highly lucrative five-year sponsorship deal with oil and gas giant ExxonMobil, estimated to be worth around £2.5 million.
In calling on the world to stop stoking its own catastrophe and ban fossil fuel advertising like tobacco, Guterres highlighted the fossil fuel industry’s “massive advertising campaign.” He said fossil fuel companies have been “aided and abetted by advertising and PR firms.” He described the situation as “Mad Men fueling the madness.”
Sponsorship is just another form of paid advertising. The aviation and car industries are connected by pipelines that support the business of oil companies. Guterres called on the advertising industry to “stop contributing to the destruction of our planet” and to “make a plan to stop seeking new clients and end existing ones from the fossil fuel industry, starting today.”
This author
Andrew Sims: New Weather InstituteAssistant Director Scientists with global responsibilityCo-founder of Malicious advertising campaigns,coordinator Rapid Transition Allianceauthor of The New Green Economy and co-author of The Green New Deal. X: Follow Or Mastodon: @andrewsimms@indieweb.social.
