EnergyAustralia apologises over offsets after greenwashing lawsuit
Australia's third-largest domestic polluter has apologised to customers who bought into its 'Go Neutral' carbon offsets program, acknowledging the product would do nothing to address the impact of fossil fuels on climate change.
'Burning fossil fuels creates greenhouse gas emissions that are not prevented or undone by carbon offsets. This could have been made clearer to customers,' EnergyAustralia said in a public apology issued as part of a settlement with the charity, Parents for Climate.
The group took the energy retailer to the Federal Court alleging the company had engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct.
More than 400,000 Australians signed up to EnergyAustralia's 'Go Neutral' program, which assured customers they were 'doing good things for the environment'.
The program promised to 'offset' the emissions produced by burning fossil fuels with a range of programs, including buying carbon credits from a geothermal development in Indonesia.
It now admits that offsets cannot undo or prevent the harm caused by polluting fossil fuels.
'Even with carbon offsetting, the emissions released from burning fossil fuels for a customer's energy use still contribute to climate change,' the company said in a statement released on Sunday.
The company acknowledged that even when customers opted in to the 'Go Neutral' product, their electricity or gas use was still sourced predominantly from fossil fuels.
'Today, EnergyAustralia acknowledges that carbon offsetting is not the most effective way to assist customers to reduce their emissions and apologises to any customer who felt that the way it marketed its Go Neutral products was unclear,' it said. 'Storing carbon in plants is not equivalent to keeping it stored in fossil fuels (by not burning those fossil fuels in the first place).'
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