Greenwashing by the tobacco industry with the support of the FOEN (in French)
The Fossil Fuel Industry and the Tobacco Industry: A Disturbing Resemblance
Two industries relying on the same strategies to achieve the same goal: securing their long-term profits at the expense of public health and the environment.
The fossil fuel and tobacco industries, responsible for millions of deaths each year as well as severe environmental impacts, have developed remarkably similar strategies to protect their profits. Both have long concealed or downplayed scientific evidence regarding the harmful effects of their products, before seeking to sow doubt when their responsibility became difficult to deny.
Their strategy relies on several tactics:
- influencing scientific research,
- discrediting unfavorable studies,
- promoting industry-aligned experts,
- spreading misleading messages based on individual responsibility, economic freedom, or the alleged costs of regulations,
- and lobbying policymakers intensively.
These industries maintain comparable networks of influence, mobilizing think tanks, business associations, lawmakers, and political funding to delay, weaken, or block regulations that might limit their activities. In Switzerland, the tobacco and fossil fuel lobbies enjoy privileged access to political institutions and help to hinder public health and climate protection policies.
