Anti-greenwashing law call to arms for authentic efforts: advocates

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This article was published 26/07/2024 (433 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The “magic elixirs” of the Old West patent medicine industry and other unproven, spurious medical claims have long ago been banned. Soon, too, will deceptive and unsubstantiated environmental claims.

Federal legislation (Bill C-59) passed in June that includes measures aimed at so-called “greenwashing” is being cast as an attempt to address deceptive marketing in that space in the same way misleading claims in many other sectors have previously been dealt with.

While there has already been push back from some quarters — in particular, the oil patch — several players in Manitoba already active in sustainable industries believe it’s another signal there’s no turning back when it comes to a whole-of-economy efforts to deal with greenhouse gas emissions.

This week, the Competition Bureau announced it will hold public hearings to develop guidance “on an accelerated basis” to determine how to address new provisions that require “certain types of environmental claims about products be supported by adequate and proper testing and that certain types of environmental claims about businesses or business activities be adequately and properly substantiated.”

While some in the capital markets world are concerned about potential hefty fines and uncertainty about what it will take to comply, others see it almost as a call to arms for all the authentic efforts and investment being applied in developing new technologies to address things like remediation and greenhouse gas accounting.

Kevin Danner, CEO of Carbon Lock Tech, a Manitoba start-up developing unique technology to remove carbon from bio-waste, understands the potential for the legislation to be seen as constraining to some.

However, “Nobody should make false claims about anything and certainly not about environmental performance and that goes for companies, governments and industries,” Danner said.

Maybe it’s a “shot across the bow for those who have been making claims that are a little bit a stretch,” he added.

Olivier Muggli, CEO of Winpak Ltd., a Winnipeg-based food packaging manufacturer that has been operating under all sort of internationally recognized compliance regimes for some time, is following the Canadian developments.

When it comes to claims about sustainability of the products it makes and its production methodologies — a critically important competitive feature for the company which has factories across North America and more than $1 billion in annual revenue — Winpak doesn’t fool around.

“It’s something that investors are looking at, financial institutions and our customer, as well,” Muggli said.

Among other things, Winpak takes pains to control the communication channels, so there’s no instances of exuberant staffers somewhere making unsubstantiated claims.

“We have always been very, very careful,” he said. “Even though we get approval from the American Recycling Association that material ‘XYZ’ is recyclable as per its standards, we will refer to them as ‘recycle ready.’ We don’t call it ‘recyclable’ because there night be areas or jurisdictions where it won’t get recycled.”

Jack Winram, executive director of the Manitoba Environmental Industries Association, said it’s about protecting companies who are investing in their environmental footprint.

“At least part of the whole theory behind investing in performance measures for decarbonization or circular economy or environmental quality systems is to be more profitable and more competitive in the future,” he said.

“If your competitors are gaming the system, then you are not getting the advantage from those investments.”

The globe is still in the early days of the large-scale decarbonization industry and the economies of it all are still being organized, but some already engaged believe national regulations about deceptive marketing can only be a good sign.

There’s even a backhand analysis that says if commercial entities are making deceptive claims around sustainability, it’s at least a sign there would be some sort of commercial gain to be had were the claims true.

Brendan Reimer, who’s in charge of leading Assiniboine Credit Union’s mission of “building sustainable futures for all,” said more and more companies have been presenting themselves as being the kind of firm they know stakeholders are looking for.

“What we also know is that, sometimes, the words have gone faster or gone further than what the actions warranted,” he said.

While that may sound innocent enough, it can be disruptive and counter-productive, even to the point of having dire consequences amid global warming.

“When consumers and employees and investors and supply chains are all looking for authenticity, it could become harder to know which companies are walking the walk and which are just talking the talk,” Reimer said. “This legislation starts to address that.”

Winnipeg start-up Carbon Standard is developing accounting tools to assist companies in efforts to technically and accurately account for their carbon footprint, something that will become necessary in most jurisdictions around the world.

Alex Stuart, co-founder of Standard Carbon, said Bill C-59 is further evidence of the large and growing opportunity for the kind of tools the company is developing.

“The Competition Bureau is telling us to treat climate-related claims with the same rigour we have for medical claims,” he said. “That’s a humongous step forward for Canadian consumers to have that kind of transparency.”

Standard Carbon is working on AI-aided software that will boil down a company’s overall carbon footprint to the invoice level.

With that kind of accounting becoming increasingly necessary, Standard Carbon is working hard to get the tools built and raise capital at the same time.

“There is rapidly coming a time where you simply have to know that info,” he said. “We want to try to make it as painless as possible.”

martin.cash@freepess.mb.ca