Oil and gas sector plays risky game, experts say

Communications and greenwashing experts say the oil and gas industry is playing a risky game by completely removing environmental claims from its websites and social media in response to a new law, but they add that Canadians’ opinions are already so divided that these measures could have little effect.

Oil sands company group New Ways Alliance has removed all content from its platforms while other companies have changed their websites after new greenwashing changes were adopted as part of an update of the Competition Act.

Executives of the six oil sands companies behind New Ways Alliance released a statement Thursday evening saying the law, which requires companies to back up their environmental claims with evidence, poses a serious threat to freedom of communication.

Sarbjit Kaur, co-founder of KPW Communications, says the industry’s strategy is very risky.

One might be left with the impression that either their environmental claims are false and unfounded and that they have consistently misled the public, or that they are not following legislation designed to ensure that Canadians get accurate and truthful information.

She said that in the age of misinformation, it is more important than ever that claims are substantiated. Any reluctance to do so reflects badly on an industry or organization.

An open door to frivolous litigation?

Executives behind New Pathways Alliance explained that the bill’s public disclosure standards are so vague as to lack meaning and rely on an unspecified internationally recognized methodology. which may or may not exist.

They said the law opens the door to frivolous litigation because it allows outside groups to launch efforts to enforce the law through the court system.

The result of this law, which was quickly implemented with little or no consultation, is intended to silence Canadian companies taking action on climate change.declared the leaders of Canadian NaturalImperial, MEG Energy, Cenovus EnergyConocoPhillips Canada, Suncor Energy, and New Ways Alliance in the press release.

The law change, however, follows established patterns of competition rules, argued Wren Montgomeryassociate professor of sustainable development at theIvey Business School from Western University, which studies greenwashing.

What the Competition Bureau has always done is ensure that companies do not mislead or lie to Canadians.

She explained that there are many internationally recognized methodologies to ensure companies stand behind their claims, such as the initiative Science Based Targets which sets out guidelines for what a legitimate net zero emissions goal looks like.

There are many simple ways for companies making legitimate changes to the environment to report to acceptable standards to prove they are doing soargued Ms. Montgomery.

She noted that there was some flexibility in the wording of the law to give the Competition Bureau room to adapt as standards evolve, but that it was important to have the words internationally recognized to avoid the use of small standards, often financed by industry, which could set a low bar.

The update is also important, Ms. Montgomery added, because there has been an increase in so-called future washes, or promises of better environmental outcomes to come, which have so far proven difficult to control.

Regarding frivolous lawsuits, she said a competition tribunal would review cases before they go to court to ensure they are legitimate.

Very informed consumers

Wren Montgomery said Canadians, especially younger consumers, are very savvy and don’t like hypocrisy, and will view the industry’s decision as confirmation of their suspicions.

I think what they’re going to think is, “Hey, we were right. All those claims weren’t legitimate or weren’t supported by evidence.”

While the oil and gas companies’ move may serve to confirm skeptics’ existing views, it will also reinforce pro-industry views, said Joanne McNeish, an associate professor of marketing at the Ted Rogers School of Business from Toronto Metropolitan University.

I imagine this will have no effect on opinions, since Canadians already have their perceptions of the oil and gas industryshe indicated by email.

She said it can be much more difficult to support environmental claims when a company is trying to account for its supply chains and industry partners. The suppression of industry claims speaks to the uncertainty businesses feel about the bill’s implications and could lead to reduced communications efforts in the future.

They have tried to explain the complexity of these issues and are still criticizedshe pointed.

Shane Gunstera professor at the School of Communications at Simon Fraser University, also believes the decision will be closely scrutinized from a political perspective.

I suspect that in some ways those on the right will almost find it useful to be able to say, well, here’s another example of freedom of speech, or freedom more broadly crushed.

But he added that in terms of persuading the general public, who don’t follow these issues very closely, it’s more likely that people will see this as confirmation of their suspicions about the industry.

Cleaning up your website and making it obscure could really raise questions for these people, especially as it fits into some sort of broader social understanding of the role that the oil and gas industry has historically played in the culture of denial climatic.

The members of Alliance Nouvelles Voies stressed that this decision did not change their environmental commitments, but Mr. Gunster recalled that the past of the global oil and gas industry leaves many people skeptical.

I do think people are probably going to build on what they already think about the oil and gas industry’s role in greenwashing, and the oil and gas industry’s role in skepticism or denial climate, he said. It’s just that the historical evidence for what they did is extremely overwhelming.