Last year, when oil prices were peaking, OPEC President Chakib Khelil told an Algerian newspaper that “the intrusion of bioethanol on the market” was responsible for 40 percent of the rise in oil prices — an asinine, unsubstantiated remark that nobody believed.

The Renewable Fuels Association saw this as an opportunity to promote their own environmentally destructive product with equally asinine, unsubstantiated remarks in an open letter to OPEC. However, George Monbiot complained to the Advertising Standards Authority in the U.K., who subsequently banned the ad. He didn’t like their use of the word “sustainable.”

All donations matched! Reader support helps sustain our work. Donate today to keep our climate news free.

I’m not aware of an American equivalent of the ASA, but we sure could use one.

Grist thanks its sponsors. Become one.