Feds to remove rule that companies must back up climate claims with 'internationally recognized' policy

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government is proposing to scrub the law targeting companies making environmental claims by removing the requirement that the evidence they present must be based on “internationally recognized ” policy. 

Changes to the so-called greenwashing provisions introduced under former prime minister Justin Trudeau were announced in the Nov. 4 federal budget, with details about how outlined in the recently tabled budget bill.

The government said in the budget that changes were needed to address what it said was “investment uncertainty,” and comes as Carney looks to attract billions more in private sector investment through fast-tracking natural resource development.

Carney’s first budget promised to remove parts of changes made to the Competition Act, aimed at cracking down on the practice of companies making untrue or deceptive claims about the environmental benefits of a product or certain business activity  — a style of marketing environmental groups have coined as “greenwashing.” 

The Liberals now propose to change the section specifically dealing with statements made by a company promoting its business as benefiting the environment and mitigating the effects of climate change.

Currently, the law prohibits companies from doing so should their claims not be rooted in “ adequate and proper substantiation in accordance with internationally recognized methodology.” 

The budget bill proposes scrubbing the words “internationally recognized methodology” from the law. It also seeks to disallow a private party from bringing a claim based on that rule directly to the Competition Tribunal, reversing the change made when the “greenwashing” measures were introduced.

A response for comment from Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin, whose predecessor, Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault, played a role in the initial change, referred any comment to Industry Minister Melanie Joly’s office, which has not yet been returned.

Keith Stewart, a senior energy strategist at Greenpeace Canada, which advocated for the Liberals to introduce the provisions, said removing the requirement for companies to substantiate climate claims using “ internationally recognized methodology” creates an opening for businesses to cite evidence that may not be “scientifically rigorous.” 

“The risk here is they’re going to let companies make up their own definitions and their own rules, and this is going to result in really weak standards,” he said.

Over the summer, the Competition Bureau released a series of guidelines on the provisions, following consultations after the changes were introduced.

It said the bureau would consider methodology to be “internationally recognized” should it be recognized “ in two or more countries.” 

The example it provided was of a hypothetical company promoting itself as reaching net-zero emissions by 2050, but lacking a clear plan to do so and being unable to substantiate that claim.

Keith Brooks, program director at Environmental Defence, an environmental advocacy organization, said he believes more time was needed to assess the impact of the proposed change, but said he welcomed the fact that Carney was prepared to keep the provisions in place and maintain the rule that substantiation of environmental claims was still required.

“We were concerned that they were going to be scrapping these rules altogether, and instead, I think that they are maintaining most of the substance of the intention of the rules while trying to make it a little bit easier for companies to comply,” he said.

Brooks added: “Does it push companies to back up the claims that they’re making?”

Pathways Alliance, a group of oilsands companies promoting the ability to reach net-zero emissions from oilsands production by 2025, scrubbed their website and social media feeds after the new “greenwashing” provisions were introduced. It now welcomes the change.

“Changes to the Competition Act are necessary and the proposed amendments are directionally positive. The current requirements have put Canadian companies at a disadvantage compared to their global counterparts by limiting their ability to speak freely about environmental work,” said Kendall Dilling, the group’s president. 

“ We will need to review the changes as they appear in the legislation before offering any further comment.”

The group is behind a proposed $16.5 billion carbon capture and storage network Carney has named as one of the possible nation-building projects his government wants to see developed.

Support for that project is also part of ongoing talks between Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who are negotiating the terms of a new approach to federal energy policy, which could include a path created to see a new bitumen pipeline built from Alberta to B.C.’s northern coast, as well as the undoing of a suite of environmental policies seen as hampering development.

Smith’s United Conservative Party government and others in the oil and gas industry had opposed the provisions soon after they were introduced.

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, who this week voted in support of the Liberals’ budget after Carney publicly pledged to respect the 2030 and 2035 Paris climate targets, said she was never in favour of adding specific “greenwashing” provisions to the federal competition law to begin with and believes measures that promote general truth in advertising would have been better.

“I can tell you the many more things that made it hard to vote for the budget,” she said.

National Post

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