In an Australian first, Australian Parents for Climate Action (AP4CA) has filed a claim in the Federal Court of Australia against EnergyAustralia for misleading over 400,000 consumers about the climate impact of its products.
AP4CA alleges that EnergyAustralia is misleading customers by marketing its Go Neutral product as "carbon neutral" and having "a positive impact on the environment" when it is primarily generated by burning fossil fuels, which the company claims to have "offset" simply by buying carbon credits.
This will be the first Australian civil action brought against a company for marketing a specific consumer product as "carbon neutral" and follows recent agreement by lawmakers in the European Parliament to ban this act overseas.
AP4CA estimates that 'Go Neutral' customers spend hundreds of millions a year on fossil fuel energy, while being led to believe that it is "carbon neutral".
Nic Seton, CEO of AP4CA, said: "Australian parents want our energy to be clean and renewable, because our children rely on us to create a safe and sustainable world for their future.
"We've had enough of power companies misleading us into buying polluting products. So we're taking a stand against EnergyAustralia's greenwashing on behalf of Australia's parents and our children.
"We simply cannot solve the climate crisis while the world's biggest polluters rely on buying 'offsets'; it is not scientifically possible for fossil fuel-based products to be truly 'carbon neutral'. 'Offsets' are a form of marketing spin based on creative accounting, allowing fossil-fuel burners to maintain climate destroying practices and delay decarbonisation.
"Consider the analogy of discovering your child smokes cigarettes. Your child can't just pay other children not to smoke, and then tell you their smoking is "health neutral". This is fundamentally deceptive behaviour and doesn't solve the problem. Your child is still smoking.
"Why would we stand for it when energy companies mislead consumers into thinking their energy is good for the climate while continuing to pump climate-wrecking pollution into the atmosphere? These companies should instead be switching to genuinely sustainable and renewable energy.
"When companies burn fossil fuels, they harm the climate. It's as simple as that. So when they use marketing spin like 'offsets' to justify business as usual, they're cheating our kids out of a safe future."
David Hertzberg, Senior Associate at Equity Generation Lawyers, representing AP4CA said, "This is the first case in Australia targeting the marketing of consumer products as 'carbon neutral'.
"Our client argues that EnergyAustralia's promotion of its 'Go Neutral' product amounts to misleading or deceptive conduct, which is a contravention of the Australian Consumer Law.
"If our client is successful, it will force EnergyAustralia to stop claiming that its 'Go Neutral' product is 'carbon neutral'. It will also set a precedent for other companies, helping to strip back some of the greenwashing faced by everyday consumers.
"Consumers deserve to know the truth about what they are buying. And the truth is that fossil fuel energy can never be 'carbon neutral'."
EnergyAustralia is Australia's third-largest carbon polluter and Australia's third-largest energy company, with 1.6 million customers. It owns multiple power stations including Australia's most carbon-intensive station located at Yallourn, Victoria, on top of retailing electricity and gas to consumers.
Parents who want to support AP4CA's work against misleading advertising can sign their open letter to power companies at ap4ca.org/greenwashing
A media event with David Hertzberg from Equity Generation Lawyers, AP4CA CEO Nic Seton, and AP4CA parent members will be held on the steps of the Law Courts Building, Queens Square, Sydney at 2pm on Wednesday 9 August 2023. All spokespeople will be available for photos and quotes or interviews.
