The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is set to double down on fake environmental claims, following a greenwashing sweep last year.
ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb has confirmed consumer and competition issues around sustainability will be a key compliance and enforcement priority for 2023/2024. Cass-Gottlieb revealed the ACCC's annual target list at a Committee for Economic Development Australia (CEDA) event in Sydney.
"Misleading claims about environmental or sustainability credentials have an impact right across the economy. Consumers, shareholders and governments are looking for legitimate change not ‘smoke and mirrors’ when it comes to environmental initiatives implemented by businesses. The ACCC can play a role by ensuring businesses tell the truth about the environmental impacts of the goods and services they supply.
"Businesses using broad claims like ‘environmentally friendly’, ‘green’, or ‘sustainable’ are obliged to back up these claims through reliable scientific reports, transparent supply chain information, reputable third-party certification or other forms of evidence. Businesses must be able to provide robust evidence for their claims and if unable to do so, then these claims should not be made."
Cass-Gottlieb said the ACCC has witnessed an increasing number of businesses seeking certification for their products or business operations.
"It is important that businesses clearly explain the relevance of the certification program, and don’t overstate its benefits or implications. For example, we saw broad claims that a business is “certified” by a scheme when only its products were certified, and not the entire business. We also saw the word “certified” used in relation to an entire product, when only certain components of the product are certified."
The ACCC has investigations underway for alleged misleading environmental claims and these may grow as it conducts more targeted assessments.
"We’ve established a new internal taskforce focused on sustainability that will build our expertise, inform and coordinate our efforts across the agency," Cass-Gottlieb said. "In particular, the taskforce will examine and seek to influence a range of issues where environmental and sustainability issues intersect with the application of competition and consumer law, including product safety."
The ACCC will announce its annual product safety priorities at the National Consumer Congress later in the year.