The debate over whether we are in a climate and extinction crisis appears to be largely over. Oh yes we can all breathe a sigh of relief now that governments and corporations are leading the way in addressing these existential threats as a matter of urgency.
Bah Humbug. That’s called Greenwashing. Putting a green face on ugly facts.
After guzzling £2 million of taxpayer subsidies daily to run its Drax power station, the largest coal burning consortium in the UK was able to proudly report whole days when none of their electricity came from coal burning. Cooper Energy now claims to be Australia’s ‘first carbon neutral gas company’. Shell and Ampol are both promoting their ‘carbon neutral petrol’ here and overseas. Didn’t take long for governments and corporations to show the way, did it? As Darryl of ‘The Castle’ might have said, “Tell ‘em they’re dreamin’”
The much-touted UK transition from coal just happens to be via millions of tonnes of
wood pellets imported mainly from Nth USA, and deceitfully doesn’t account for the
emissions at the Drax smokestacks. World climate and Northern USA forests would actually be better off if they continued to burn coal, because it produces less carbon dioxide. Despite an international campaign to stop this absurd practice, it continues regardless.
‘Carbon neutral fossil fuel’ does not even pass a pub test, let alone any close scrutiny. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) and purchasing offsets are the main choices of the big polluters. CCS is not practical or economic on a large scale, and offsets are highly contentious. Cunningly, Cooper Energy has chosen to offset the emissions only from their business operations (a miserable 1% of all emissions), and have conveniently ignored the emissions from burning their fossil fuel products.
Surely they cannot get away with these false claims, or ‘greenwashing’, in a well-regulated democracy like Australia? Amazingly, the answer is: yes, they can. The Australian government’s carbon neutral certification scheme, Climate Active, has endorsed Ampol’s ‘carbon neutral fuel’. In the Netherlands, Shell was ordered to stop using the term ‘carbon neutral’ by the country’s advertising watchdog. But it took the filing of a ‘greenwashing’ complaint to bring about this change.
Corporate claims of ‘carbon neutrality’ and ‘net zero targets’ are on the increase in Australia. The ACCC estimates that at least 40% of these are fraudulent. None of these fossil fuel companies are significantly reducing their production of coal, gas and oil. In fact, most are expanding production. Their ‘greenwashing’ is based on carbon offsets, mainly tree planting or forest protection projects that have been highly discredited by expert analysis.
Santos is being accused by shareholder activist group the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR) of engaging in misleading or deceptive conduct relating to its ‘clean energy’ claims and its ‘net zero by 2040’ plan. The claims are based on CCS, yet to be effective anywhere, and ‘blue hydrogen’. ‘Bluewashing’, as an alternative to green, hides the fact that the hydrogen is produced from gas!
The Defenders recently filed a complaint about Ampol’s false claims. ASIC has made clear it is keeping a close eye on the climate change commitments being made by corporate Australia. But it is an arm of the same Federal government that is sponsoring ‘greenwash’, rather than genuine decarbonisation. Fox in charge of the hen house?
It seems unlikely this pretence will improve while the two major political parties in Australia are so beholden to fossil fuel companies to finance their electioneering. Meanwhile, we continue to increase our carbon emissions, particularly via exported coal and gas (Scope 3 emissions). In the meantime, we can at least ensure we are not being conned by the ‘greenwash’ of corporations, banks and superannuation funds that we invest in. Not always an easy task if you rely on a glossy prospectus.
And watch out for Australia’s own potential Drax at Redbank power station in the Hunter, where Verdant Earth Technologies has applied for State Significant status to burn 1 million tonnes of northern NSW hardwood to produce ‘clean green energy’ including ‘green hydrogen’. Yep, the company name says it all…
Tom Ferrier
Tom Ferrier has had a lifelong passion for the natural environment. He holds a Masters degree in Environmental Management, and has taught Environmental Science at both tertiary and secondary levels. He was an early adopter of renewable energy systems, works constantly to regenerate the bush, and is a part-time forest activist.