BYD slogan deemed greenwashing, banned in Ireland

BYD, one of the world’s biggest car manufacturers, has been found guilty of misleading the Irish public by running a greenwashing campaign that made false claims about the company’s role in the Climate Crisis.

The Chinese manufacturer, which produced more than 3 million cars in 2023 and reported a turnover of €58 billion in 2022, arrived in Ireland last year, and brought with it the company’s global slogan of ‘Cooling the Earth by 1°C”.

As the company’s website states: “BYD is on a mission to reduce the Earth’s temperature by 1°C. To help achieve this, BYD have been working tirelessly to reduce global emissions by leveraging electricity to power urban transport.”

This claim has now been ruled to be misleading by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). In reviewing a public complaint about the greenwashing campaign, the ASA found that BYD had offered no evidence to substantiate the claims and that the claim “must not reappear unless evidence has been submitted substantiating it”.

Contrary to the claims made by BYD, the Earth’s average temperature is increasing as the Climate Crisis worsens. 2023 was the hottest year on record and accounted for the world’s first year-long breach of the critical 1.5°C ceiling that 196 countries agreed to uphold in the Paris Agreement in 2016.

Tom Spencer, Editor of IrishEVs and the creator of the Irish Greenwashing Awards, said: “Greenwashing has become increasingly prevalent and pernicious over recent years, with many companies using misinformation and misdirection to deliberately confuse the Irish public in order to increase their profit margins, and avert accountability for their inaction in the face of the Climate Emergency”.

“While I welcome the ruling by the ASA – because of course one company can’t possibly cool the Earth by 1°C – it reiterates the need for greater protection of the Irish pubic. We urgently need legislation to stop companies making these false claims in the first place, and to put in place greater penalties for those who deliberately deceive.”

The ASA, formerly known as ASI, rebranded in 2024. Established in 1981, the mission of the ASA is to protect consumers and the public by setting and enforcing advertising standards, monitoring advertising, and taking action to remove advertising that is harmful, offensive, or misleading.

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