Companies that don’t tow the government line on climate change will soon have to, now that Bill C-59 is law. The bill, which received royal assent in June, amended Canada’s Competition Act to prohibit the private sector from “greenwashing” — a move that cracks down on corporate communications to an intrusive degree.
Prior to the amendment, the Competition Act regulated deceptive marketing in general: false claims and misleading representations, for example. Now, Bill C-59 has expanded the scope of the law to include representations to the public that guarantee “a product’s benefits for protecting or restoring the environment or mitigating the environmental, social and ecological causes or effects of climate change,” as well as any representations about a business’ impact on “protecting or restoring the environment or mitigating the environmental and ecological causes or effects of climate change.”
For individuals, fines start at $750,000, and for corporations, that figure starts at $10,000,000. It’s sobering stuff.
Such penalties have always existed, and proponents of the amendment will tell you that they, and indeed the law itself, are designed to hold corporations and individuals accountable for their words. Fair enough, and so it should be. No one wants companies deceiving Canadians with lies, and the Competition Act rightly addresses this.
But there is a problem. In recent years it has become de rigueur for companies to demonstrate their social impact strategies and their standing as responsible corporate citizens. There are many reasons for this: some customer-driven, others — particularly concerning climate matters — government and activist-driven. Companies are therefore keen to put as positive a spin as possible on their social and ecological impacts.
This is the origin of the “greenwashing” accusation: some corporations exaggerated their good deeds despite being not all that great when you look under the hood. Pointing out instances of “greenwashing” was a popular way to call out companies for not living up to their expressed social and environmental goals or, for more extreme activists, a means of imploring the corporate world to do more for the environment.
With Bill C-59’s update to the Competition Act to address “greenwashing” and climate change, however, we enter much rockier territory. “Greenwashing” is now against the law. In effect, the government has placed ideological differences in the same box as deceptive pricing, making them equally punishable under the law. The potential for future unintended consequences is enormous.
The amendment is an obvious shot at the fossil fuel industry in Canada. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Environment Minister Stephen Guilbeault are dead set on using whatever time remains in office to hamper and frustrate Canada’s most productive industry, the costs be damned. They should be careful. The Liberals won’t be in power forever and are setting a precedent which could harm communities they care about.
Let us not forget that companies don’t only “greenwash.” They also Pride-wash, DEI-wash, Indigenous-wash and otherwise launder themselves in all manners possible to appeal to their customers and profit from them. If “greenwashing” is subject to government oversight today, why not a company’s DEI initiatives tomorrow? This is the path we are now on, and it’s not a good one.
On many social issues — but particularly on climate change — government priorities for the past 10 years have forced companies to demonstrate their climate credentials. Some of this has been positive. However, initiatives like Canada’s goal to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, for which the current government will have zero accountability, are fraught with complexity.
The government created a climate of enviro-fear to which companies have responded by highlighting their climate initiatives. Having created the problem, the Liberals have resolved that if companies don’t talk about their initiatives in the right way, they should be punished as harshly as a deceptive marketer.
Even if you believe climate change is the existential threat Guilbeault holds it to be, you ought to also recognize that if the government begins penalizing companies and individuals for business communications it does not like, the potential for abuse is vast and far-reaching. If you don’t wish to see a day where a company could be fined for improperly communicating its DEI and Pride engagement, you shouldn’t cheer for Bill C-59.
The only group who should punish a greenwashing company is the consumer. If they don’t, let the companies wash themselves in the colour of their choosing.
National Post