A bill set to go before the Senate during the current period gives corporations the green light to continue greenwashing their financial statements for the next three years, environmental advocates say. or signup to continue reading The government's current bill to force corporations to includes a clause that gives businesses legal immunity from private claims brought against false or misleading climate statements for three years from January 2025. During his first reading of the bill, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the three-year transition period acknowledged that making climate disclosures for the first time would be "challenging" for some businesses.
"ASIC can still take action for breaches of the reporting requirements during this period," he said. However, many businesses already report their climate risks, particularly large public corporations and major emitters, after sustained shareholder pressure. Director of corporate climate NGO Climate Integrity Claire Snyder said the immunity period opened the door to misleading statements from corporations about their emissions reductions plans.
"Three years of legal immunity would give a greenlight to continue greenwashing in company reporting and delay urgently needed climate action," Ms Snyder said. Australia's corporate regulators have recently been taking action on greenwashing by major corporations, after a found half of businesses had made misleading statements about their environmental credentials. Earlier this month, financial superannuation Mercer paid $11.
3 million in the first greenwashing case brought by corporate enforcer ASIC. However despite this and other actions against Vanguard Investments and Active Super, there are concerns that ASIC does not have the resources to pursue corporate greenwashing cases, given the widespread nature of the issue. Greens senator Nick McKim said the immunity period was too long.
"ASIC being the gatekeeper does not fill us with confidence as they hardly have a reputation as a tough cop on the beat," he said. A recent had "comprehensively failed" to fulfil its regulatory remit and was "reluctant or unwilling" to commence investigations into misconduct. The Greens have proposed an amendment to the bill to reduce the legal immunity period to one year.
ACT senator David Pocock, in additional comments to a Senate review of the bill, said there was no time to waste in holding large emitters to account. "Given the decades of lost opportunity to address the impacts of climate change in this country, we simply don't have the luxury of time any more to dispense liability holidays to large fossil fuel producers and emitters, especially absent any good articulated reason to do so." Treasurer Jim Chalmers was contacted for comment.
Federal Political Reporter working for The Canberra Times from the parliamentary press gallery.Something to get off your chest? Connor.pearce@austcommunitymedia.
com.au Federal Political Reporter working for The Canberra Times from the parliamentary press gallery.Something to get off your chest? Connor.
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