'Renewable gas greenwashing' lands Australian Gas Networks in court after ACCC alleges company misled consumers
A major Australian gas company has been sued for alleged greenwashing after claiming it could deliver 'renewable gas' within a generation.
Australian Gas Networks in 2022 and 2023 ran its 'Love Gas' advertising campaign where a father and his young daughter used gas appliances in the home for cooking, heating and bathing.
The ad fast forwarded to the daughter as an adult where she was engaging in the same activities.
A voiceover throughout the ads claimed Australian Gas Networks' "flame" was "becoming renewable" for "this generation and the next".
The final frame of each ad showed the company's logo next to a green flame and the words 'Love gas. Love a renewable gas future'; or just 'Love Gas'.
Australian Gas Networks is now heading to court as the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission alleges the company engaged in 'greenwashing' through its ad campaign as it was overly ambitious with its renewables promises.
'We allege that the ads overstated the likelihood of Australian Gas Networks overcoming significant technical and economic barriers to distribute renewable gas to households within a generation,' ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said.
'It is not currently possible to distribute renewable gas at scale and at an economically viable price, and throughout 2022 and 2023 it was highly uncertain whether, and if so when, this would be possible.
'We allege that even though Australian Gas Networks knew the future of renewable gas was uncertain, it made an unqualified representation to consumers that it would distribute renewable gas to households within a generation.'
The consumer watchdog alleges these ads encouraged customers to either become a customer with Australian Gas Networks or remain customers with the company based on the 'misleading impression' they would receive 'renewable gas' within a generation.
'We consider that consumers were deprived of the opportunity to make fully informed choices,' Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.
The ads did not contain any fine print, qualifications or disclaimers regarding its 'renewable gas' claim.
Australian Gas Networks provides gas to about 1.3 million homes and businesses primarily in Victoria and South Australia, however, it also services Queensland, NSW and the Northern Territory.
Ms Cass-Gottlieb said businesses that misled consumers through environmental claims were making it more difficult for companies 'that are genuinely working to reduce their environmental impact'.
'Businesses that make environmental claims about the future must have reasonable grounds for those claims, or they will be taken to be misleading under the Australian Consumer Law,' the ACCC chair said.
'Businesses must take care when they promote emissions-reduction measures that their claims can be backed up with evidence, and that they are realistic about emerging energy technologies and when changes are likely to be achieved.
'Misleading claims not only break the trust of consumers, they also breach the Australian Consumer Law.'
It follows Clorox Australia, the company behind Glad wrap, being forced to pay an $8.25 million fine for greenwashing after the ACCC took it to court for greenwashing.
Similarly, Active Super was fined $10.5m by the Federal Court in March over deceptive marketing that led its customers to believe it eliminated investments that 'posed too great a risk to the environment and the community'.
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