{"id":273921,"date":"2025-11-10T09:35:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T09:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/273921\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T09:35:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T09:35:09","slug":"ottawa-is-scrapping-canadas-greenwashing-rules-this-is-a-mistake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/273921\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa is scrapping Canada\u2019s greenwashing rules. This is a mistake"},"content":{"rendered":"

Julien O. Beaulieu is a doctoral candidate at Imperial College London. Wren Montgomery is an associate professor at Ivey Business School at Western University. Jennifer A. Quaid is a professor in the civil law section of the University of Ottawa. <\/p>\n

In the 2025 budget<\/a>, the federal government announced it plans to make changes to new rules added to the Competition Act last year \u2013 rules that gave Canadians a private right of action against deceptive marketing and required companies to substantiate their environmental claims.<\/p>\n

The move, which follows intense pushback from lobby groups, is being framed as necessary to reduce \u201cinvestment uncertainty.\u201d In the government\u2019s words, the so-called \u201cgreenwashing provisions\u201d are \u201chaving the opposite of the desired effect, with some parties slowing or reversing efforts to protect the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

That justification doesn\u2019t add up.<\/p>\n

For one, how exactly does Ottawa know that companies are reversing their environmental efforts because of these provisions? All we have seen so far is widely publicized removals of previously made environmental claims. There\u2019s a big difference between companies pulling back on marketing language and companies pulling back on real environmental initiatives. Talk is not action.<\/p>\n

Ottawa plans to scale back \u2018greenwashing\u2019 rules, but companies say it\u2019s not enough<\/a><\/p>\n

Assuming for the sake of argument there has been some scaling back, where is the evidence that attributes this phenomenon to new rules on greenwashing? How is the government distinguishing the effects of Bill C-59 from other policy changes and incentives, such as the phase-out of the consumer carbon tax or the changes to the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act? It\u2019s a stretch to claim a causal link based on a few months of the rules being in force.<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s position assumes that it is a bad thing that companies have dialed back the scope of their environmental claims. But, this might actually mean the law is working as intended, curbing unsubstantiated claims and restoring credibility to the marketplace. It\u2019s far too early to declare the amendments a failure, especially when corporate disclosure trends are still adjusting and shaped by a wider anti-ESG backlash.<\/p>\n

The government does have a point on uncertainty \u2013 but only regarding one of the two greenwashing rules. Unlike the rules on environmental claims relating to products, which are based on existing law, there is some confusion about what counts as a \u201csubstantiated claim\u201d when the claim is about the benefits of business for the environment. The Competition Act requires companies to back their green claims using an \u201cinternationally recognized methodology\u201d \u2013 a phrase left undefined. That gap, combined with vague initial guidance from the Competition Bureau, made some corporate legal departments nervous.<\/p>\n

But the problem is one of communication, not design, and is easily solved: just clarify the rules! The government could drop the word \u201cinternationally\u201d or replace the phrase with something clearer, like Switzerland\u2019s requirement that green claims be based on \u201cobjective and verifiable criteria\u201d or the U.S. requirement that they rely on \u201cstandards generally accepted in the relevant scientific fields.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gary Mason: The fight against climate change appears to be officially dead<\/a><\/p>\n

It could also adopt regulations creating safe harbours \u2013 explicitly naming the methodologies companies can rely on \u2013 and suspend the private right of action until those regulations are in force. That would provide the certainty businesses want while preserving the law\u2019s core purpose, which is to restore the public\u2019s trust in green claims.<\/p>\n

As for the private right of action related to greenwashing, the government seems to be acting hastily \u2013 no private claim has been filed since the right took effect in June, 2025. The only claim that has been brought in relation to the greenwashing provisions is a constitutional challenge to the provisions as a violation of corporate free speech.<\/p>\n

Moreover, the amendments give private plaintiffs little reason to launch class-action-style lawsuits, since they don\u2019t provide for compensation or damages when a company fails to substantiate a green claim. We are a long way from the fear mongering of a flood of greedy and unfounded plaintiff claims.<\/p>\n

Repealing these provisions entirely would send the wrong signal. It would tell the marketplace that vague or misleading green claims are once again fair game, hurting the very companies that have invested in credible, verifiable sustainability efforts.<\/p>\n

Canada should not back away from holding firms to account for what they say about the environment. If anything, we should be raising the bar \u2013 just as our trading partners in Europe and Asia are doing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Julien O. Beaulieu is a doctoral candidate at Imperial College London. Wren Montgomery is an associate professor at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":273922,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-273921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-news","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}