Unhappy with new greenwashing rules, Alberta and fossil fuel companies push back
Consultations planned for law aimed at cracking down on misleading environmental claims
The Alberta government is aiming to soften new rules against greenwashing that led Canadian oil and gas groups to scrub their websites of climate pledges or add disclaimers.
Alberta Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz, whose government has been critical of changes put into law last month, said Wednesday her government plans to take part in the upcoming consultations held by the Competition Bureau, which enforces the rules.
Amendments to the Competition Act that became law last month under Bill C-59 require companies to be able to prove environmental claims made to promote a product or business interest.
Schulz said the changes caused "a lot of concern for industry."
"There is a very real risk now that companies are not able to talk about their environmental record and the great work that they've done," she said at a summit of environmental ministers in St John's, citing carbon capture and storage technology in particular.
"We will absolutely be making a submission to the federal government about what our concerns are. We know that many in the industry are doing the same."
Pathways Alliance, which represents Canada's six largest oilsands companies, removed all content from its website and social media feeds last month, citing uncertainty over the new anti-greenwashing rules.
"Any clarity the Competition Bureau can provide through specific guidance may help direct our communications approach in the future," the group's president Kendall Dilling said in a statement to CBC News.
"Pathways Alliance remains committed to the work we are doing."
Others, such as Imperial Oil and the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), have also removed material.
Canadians are concerned, Guilbeault says
The Competition Bureau says that environmental claims made by fossil fuel companies and businesses in other sectors need to be based on "adequate and proper substantiation" based on "internationally recognized methodology" — though exactly what those tests and methodologies are hasn't been made clear.
The bureau announced last week it will develop guidance on an "accelerated basis" after receiving a "large number of requests for guidance."
"To inform this process, we will launch a public consultation in the coming weeks to gather views and input," the regulator said in a statement.
Environmental Minister Steven Guilbeault, who was also at the St. John's meeting, said stricter measures against greenwashing — a blanket term for misleading or unsupported statements about a product or company's environmental record — were necessary.
"I think there are a lot of Canadians out there who are concerned with greenwashing, and this will be a way to ensure that what companies claim when it comes to environmental performance will be rooted [in truth]," he said.
Oil and gas groups pull content
Pathways Alliance is already the subject of a Competition Bureau complaint for an alleged misleading advertising campaign about its efforts to reduce emissions.
The group is still trying to secure federal government support for a proposed $16.5-billion carbon capture pipeline project. Carbon capture and storage is a controversial technology involving storing carbon underground that oil and gas companies champion as a way to reduce greenhouse emissions.
The Pathways Alliance website detailing the project and the group's broader aims has been taken offline, except for a statement saying the recent amendments have created "significant uncertainty for Canadian companies that want to communicate publicly about the work they are doing to improve their environmental performance, including to address climate change."
CAPP removed a section of its website devoted to its climate and emissions goals, but it is still visible via the Internet Archive, including pages on carbon capture and storage and another on reducing the amount of emissions per barrel of oil.
Imperial Oil, one of the members of Pathways Alliance, also removed material, as first reported by the environmental news site DeSmog, and put a disclaimer saying the material does "not constitute an active representation of Imperial."
Lawyers seek clarity
Lawyers are watching closely for how they could affect businesses across the oil and gas sector in Canada, and beyond.
"Until there is more concrete guidance, it's really difficult for companies to understand where they fall on the risk spectrum or what type of substantiation would be adequate and proper depending on the type of claim," Melissa Tehrani, a Montreal-based partner at Gowlings law firm who specializes in advertising law, said in an interview.
An analysis by her law firm said the changes to the act make it easier for individual consumers and environmental groups to launch a potential class action. It also introduces more explicit prohibitions against deceptive environmental claims.
Matt Hulse, a lawyer at the environmental law group Ecojustice, said he was surprised the amendments led to such a quick response from Alberta and the fossil fuel industry.
"Greenwashing is a phenomenon that we see in all types of industries," he said.
The new rules are "an economy-wide provision, but as it turns out, the fossil fuel industry are some of the most prolific greenwashers, and they're taking the most drastic steps to avoid penalty under this new legislation."
