On June 19, Bill C-59 received its final reading. One measure of the law includes amendments to the Competition Act that will enforce greenwashing laws regarding what companies say about their environmental impact, including statements about what they are doing to address climate change. The bill passed into law because, thankfully, all parties of our government recognize that truth in advertising is an essential part of consumer and investor protection.
But then later that day, something strange happened. The Pathways Alliance, a consortium of six of the largest oil companies operating in the oil sands scrubbed all content from their website and social media pages, claiming that because of the amendments to competition law, they were no longer sure what they could say about what they were doing to address climate change.
Various other oil industry bodies soon followed suit, in particular the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) the largest oil lobby group in Canada, which released a statement on their website saying that the “effect of this legislation is to silence the energy industry.”
There is no more powerful evidence that we need this law than an industry feeling “silenced” by having to tell the truth. We don’t want any company to be able to make false or misleading claims, but it’s especially dangerous with industries that have powerful impacts on our health, such as food and pharmaceuticals, or industries with massive environmental impacts, such as oil and gas.
The amendments put forth in Bill C-59 offer a clear standard to determine what a company can say: prove that it’s true. The onus to prove that what you say is true is not some radical new demand. It is a normal part of how our legal and government systems work, in fact it’s how our whole society works. Proving the truth of your claims is not even something new in competition law, only now there are clearer standards and bigger repercussions for misleading claims and outright lies. It’s also not something new in the international arena. Many countries have similar standards for environmental claims, making this important for trade and investment. The Competition Bureau has already committed to providing direction on sustainability statements, much like the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s Green Guides and the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority’s Green Claims Code.
It is disappointing, but not surprising, that the anti-greenwashing amendments to the law mean some companies will have to alter their websites, social media channels and advertising simply to tell the truth. What is surprising, however, is that these fossil-fuel industry organizations were willing to publicly admit that these amendments would have a significant impact on what they are able to say.
This is not the first time the Pathways Alliance has altered the claims on their website. In the fall of 2022, their website was filled with images of clear blue skies emblazoned with statements such as “Let’s clear the air,” and “helping Canada achieve its climate goals.” And in 2023, they further emboldened the message on their blue skies, saying, “We’re making clear strides toward net zero,” But, Greenpeace Canada made a complaint to the Competition Bureau arguing that the Pathways Alliance widespread ad campaign contained false and misleading claims, and the Competition Bureau launched an investigation into the truth of the messaging. As the investigation progressed, Pathways narrowed the environmental claims on their website to “Canada’s oil sands are on a path to reach net-zero emissions from operations.” The addition of “from operations” is particularly significant as their net zero plans, even if they were viable, don’t include the 80% of their emissions that are caused by the downstream use of their products.
But why would these organizations take actions that suggest that if they can’t lie they won’t say anything? If these amendments are truly of concern to the companies, then this law was desperately needed. If scrubbing their content from the internet is merely a stunt for attention, then it is backfiring miserably. On June 20, following new stories about how they had erased their content, Pathways actually changed the note on their website to add that, pulling their content, “is not related to our belief in the truth and accuracy of our environmental communications.”
Truth in advertising is not complicated. If telling the truth means you can’t speak about your industry, then the problem doesn’t lie with the law, it’s about lying in the industry.
Nola Poirier,
Senior Researcher and Writer, Greenpeace Canada