Canada’s crackdown on greenwashing: ‘Gag order’ for oil & gas industry’s climate action or greater transparency? AUTHORITIES & GOVERNMENT by Melisa Čavčić
Given the global rise in greenwashing attempts through puffed-up environmental records and unsubstantiated claims, Canada has now tightened the reins on environmental stewardship
Canada’s crackdown on greenwashing: ‘Gag order’ for oil & gas industry’s climate action or greater transparency?
July 10, 2024, by Melisa Čavčić
Given the global rise in greenwashing attempts through puffed-up environmental records and unsubstantiated claims, Canada has now tightened the reins on environmental stewardship with a bill that brings multimillion-dollar fines and jail time into play for those prone to bragging about climate action they cannot back up. While this green bill has been dubbed as draconian by those who do not look favorably upon it, the move to implement it has caused strife between the government and the country’s fossil fuel lobby, as no clear principles have been set up yet. Should the oil and gas industry roll the dice, where will the chips fall?
Key highlights:
Canada brings new anti-greenwashing bill into play to tackle climate change
Greenwashing policy – open to interpretation
Carbon capture and greenwashing claims: Who will come on top?
Oil & gas cast in the role of climate villain
Navigating oil & gas shifting tides with ‘compromised’ transparency as another flaw
Green wave engulfing businesses: Lawyers’ take on adequate test or internationally recognized standard requirements
Antitrust immunity and environmental certificates: Saving grace or not?
Investment tax credit – Silver lining for CCUS amid uncertainty over greenwashing umbrella
From greenwashing to greenhushing: Canada’s final destination still green trust
The rise in climate change concerns is pushing the envelope on greener policies, pursuits, and actions, thus, governments around the globe are trying to come up with ways to bolster sustainability through different laws and regulations. This begs the question of tackling the overinflated green marketing and environmental whitewashing that have become par for the course to weed out genuine climate action from bogus claims.
António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, urged “every country to ban advertising from fossil fuel companies.” The UN chief also asked news media and tech companies to stop taking fossil fuel advertising money. In a powerful speech, Guterres summoned fossil fuel companies for “distorting the truth, deceiving the public and sowing doubt” about climate science and for their insufficient investments in clean energy solutions.
Seemingly answering these calls, Canada is said to have taken historic steps in June 2024 to join the ranks of the first movers and shakers on the global stage thanks to a nature accountability bill, Bill C-73, with Steven Guilbeault, Environment Minister, proudly exclaiming that as the Great White North has now become “only the second country in the world to do something, certainly puts us ahead of the game.”
On the other hand, one of the perks of the country’s latest addition, Bill C-59, is a right of private access to the Competition Tribunal for greenwashing cases, which is expected to facilitate a greater level of prosecution of companies at fault since only the Competition Bureau was allowed to initiate such recourse in the past. The bill has sparked another ideological split between the federal Liberal government and the stance the Alberta government and the energy industry have adopted.
Leah Temper, Health and Economic Policy Program Director at the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE), emphasized: “This is an important first step in ensuring that companies can no longer get away with talking green and walking dirty. What we would like to see next is to give this legislation teeth through mandatory data disclosure, clear standards in the form of a green claims guide from the Competition Bureau, and timely and transparent enforcement.
“Misleading environmental claims can have very real implications for human health. We hope that this sends a clear message to polluters that they will no longer be able to lie to the public about their environmental credentials with impunity.”
However, some claim the bill is a “gag order” and has designs to silence the oil and gas industry’s voices in climate roadmaps and set them up to pay millions in litigation fees and fines over promoting decarbonization tools such as carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS), which do not enjoy widespread support from all or most players engaged in coming up with ways to combat climate change and reach net zero goals.
Infused with fears over potential legal actions on climate grounds due to the vogue guidelines the new bill is adding to the climate litigation playbook, the oil and gas industry embarked on a mission to rid its websites of huge chunks of content dedicated to its environmental efforts. Certain climate groups, organizations, and even government officials have seen the removal as an exaggeration. Others justify the steps the fossil fuel players have taken by claiming that the uncertainty surrounding the new greenwashing rules, which are yet to be fully explained, has given rise to widespread panic among energy players
This can be challenged on the basis of the provinces challenging the constitutional authority of the act. It prima face interferes with the provinces jurisdiction over resources.