Submission to Senate Committee Inquiry into Greenwashing

The JEC made a submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Environment and Communications’ Inquiry into Greenwashing. The submission focused on greenwashing in the Australian energy industry, which has direct costs to consumers and adds barriers to them navigating what is already a complex market.

Examples of greenwashing within the energy industry have included misleading emissions claims, claims around offsets, confusing descriptors including “renewable gas” and aspirational claims about unproven technologies. 

We argued for proactive measures to prevent greenwashing in the energy industry, including the availability of independent information and blacklisting of common greenwashing practices. We consider this would help to clarify information presented by the energy sector, to support households to make informed decisions about their energy choices.