(Bloomberg) -- Canada’s Competition Bureau is seeking public comments on a new law that aims to crack down on so-called greenwashing, after major players in the oil industry complained about the Trudeau government initiative.
The law known as Bill C-59, which passed in Parliament in late June, included an amendment that requires companies to back up claims about its environmental performance with “internationally recognized methodology.” Firms that fail to do so could be taken to a tribunal or court and face major fines.
The vague amendment raised alarm in Alberta’s oil industry, prompting some groups to remove online environmental claims. One was Pathways Alliance, an umbrella organization touting the green credentials of oil sands companies, which scrubbed its online and social media content last month.
The Competition Bureau’s consultation — which aims to bring transparency to how the provisions will be enacted — is a response to a “large number of requests for guidance,” the bureau said in a news release Monday.
The bureau asked for commentary regarding which environmental claims may be hard to test and foreseeable challenges for companies, it said in another note. Stakeholders have until late September to comment.
The agency is seeking recommendations from companies and stakeholders in this round of feedback. “Through our consultation on these new provisions, we will provide guidance that will offer transparency and predictability for Canadians,” Competition Commissioner Matthew Boswell said in a statement.
The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers was among the groups that took down material from its website after the bill’s passage. The amendment also drew ire from Alberta Premier Danielle Smith — who said in a statement the legislation appears to be “part of an agenda to create chaos and uncertainty for energy investors.”
Pathways Alliance said in a statement last month that the bill “will create 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.”
For years, the bureau has probed companies over allegations of false environmental assertions. Beverage company Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. agreed to pay a $3 million (US$2.2 million) penalty in 2022 for misleading claims around its single-use coffee pods, which in most provinces aren’t recyclable. Volkswagen AG, Audi AG and Porsche AG faced up to $290.5 million in payments from a proposed class-action settlement in 2018 for deceptive marketing tactics around car emissions.
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