Vancouver – Late Wednesday, Pathways Alliance, a consortium of six large companies operating in the oil sands, removed all information from its website and social media channels. “The competition law amendments will create significant uncertainty for Canadian businesses. Communicate openly about the work we are doing to improve our environmental performance, including addressing climate change.”
Commenting on this, Nola Poirier, senior researcher and author at Greenpeace Canada, said:
“Canadian businesses moving forward in the climate conversation don’t need to worry about the changes in Bill C-59. This law simply ensures that companies do not make false environmental claims. But the Pathways Alliance has reason to worry. If removing all information from a website in the face of truth-in-advertising legislation doesn’t make Pathways look guilty of something, I don’t know what will, but as Kenny Rogers said, ‘A gambler should know when to hold.’ And you know when to fold. Already, the Competition Bureau is investigating whether Pathways Alliance broke competition laws through ‘false or misleading environmental representations’. For too long, fossil fuel companies have greenlit their products and activities. “We expect strong laws to end false environmental claims and hold companies accountable when they don’t tell the truth.”
end
Notes to editors:
- On March 15, 2023, Greenpeace Canada filed a complaint with the Competition Bureau regarding Pathways Alliance’s false and misleading advertising. The full complaint can be found here: https://www.greenpeace.org/static/planet4-canada-stateless/2023/03/8c835b91-amended-competition-bureau-submission-for-pathways-alliance-ad- campaign. PDF
- In October 2023, Greenpeace Canada submitted additional information in the form of an appendix supporting its complaint. You can read that here: https://www.greenpeace.org/static/planet4-canada-stateless/2023/12/89e2c999-path-complaint-addendum.pdf
- Greenpeace has stored various versions of the Pathways Alliance website on the Wayback Machine. Their original claim that they were “cleaning the air” can be seen here: https://web.archive.org/web/20230113003604/https://pathwaysalliance.ca/
- concise name The Pathways website requests that you receive “specific guidance” from the Competition Bureau to help guide your communications. The Competition Bureau has already committed to providing guidance on sustainability statements, as has the US Federal Trade Commission’s Green Guide and the UK Competition and Markets Authority’s Green Claims Code.
- According to the Government of Canada, the amendments to Bill C-59 “add a new form of reviewable conduct to the existing section covering representations made to the public, i.e. statements, endorsements or guarantees of the benefits of a product for protecting the environment” or mitigating the environmental and ecological impacts of climate change that are not based on adequate and appropriate testing.” [1]
- Pathways Alliance’s plan to reach net zero was based solely on emissions from upstream production, rather than 80% of emissions from product use. Their plan also relied heavily on the use of carbon capture (CCS), an unproven technology they have yet to deploy, as they have been waiting for. Taxpayer money to cover most costs. A recent Deloitte report commissioned by the Alberta government supports our argument that carbon capture is unlikely to provide a solution to greenhouse gas emissions from the fossil fuel industry. they state“Reducing production would be a more cost-effective option than investing in CCS.”
For more information, please contact:
Dina Ni, Communications Officer, Greenpeace Canada;
[email protected]+1 (416) 820-2148
___________________________________________________
Government of Canada. https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/csj-sjc/pl/charter-charte/c59.html See section: Expressing the benefits of products for the environment
