Qantas greenwashing claims support carbon guarantee: here’s what it says

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Qantas is being sued by Australia’s consumer regulator over claims it is committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.
The Environmental Defenders Office and advocacy group Climate Integrity said the claims were “not supported by any credible targets or substantive strategy”, were misleading and could potentially breach the Australian Consumer Law. It states that there is.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has not yet decided whether to investigate the complaint. Qantas said it had contacted the commission offering to work closely with Climate Integrity.
The complaint follows a Dutch court’s ruling earlier this year that airline KLM had misled consumers by giving the false impression that it was sustainable.
Following this victory, the European Commission wrote to 20 airlines, calling on them to identify potentially misleading claims and harmonize their practices.
Most concerning to European regulators is the claim that carbon emissions from flights can be offset through climate change projects and the use of sustainable fuels, at an additional cost to consumers.
Carbon Assurance proactively evaluates claims
These types of complaints would be much easier to deal with if airlines (and other companies) submitted them upfront to a process known as carbon assurance.
This process is typically voluntary and carried out by an independent assessment body according to international standards to verify the accuracy, transparency and reliability of an organization’s carbon footprint claims.
My own research with Linh Nguyen, just published in Finance Research Letters, found that companies with high carbon assurance scores are more likely to obtain more trade credit from suppliers.
Europe and Australia are moving towards requiring carbon guarantees for large companies.
Few companies follow it
Almost all of the world’s 250 largest companies report on the sustainability of their operations, but only two-thirds of them provide carbon guarantees, according to research by KPMG International.
A separate study of 5,183 companies in 42 countries that publish emissions data found that half had no contracts with carbon guarantee companies.
This may be because they are afraid of what the guarantor will find out.
An international survey of 750 companies that sought some level of external assurance found that only 14% had received adequate assurance.
Many companies are not ready
It is difficult to find a guarantor or the skills within the organization to handle the process. Although international standards are in place, there is still no professional or regulatory body to certify guarantors.
The Australian government will require large companies to report their Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions assurance from July 2026.
Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions are a company’s own direct and indirect emissions.
The government plans to make scope 3 emissions (emissions in other parts of a company’s supply and distribution chain) mandatory from July 2030.
It will be important to have a system in place.
What companies report is very important, but almost as important is the assurance that we can trust what they report.
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Quote: Qantas claims of greenwashing builds case for carbon guarantee: What this is (16 October 2024) https://phys.org/news/2024-10- Retrieved October 16, 2024 from qantas-greenwashing-case-carbon.html
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