Claiming you are carbon neutral? Better read this guide!
With an increasing number of businesses claiming to be "carbon neutral", the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) released a guide titled "Carbon Claims and the Trade Practices Act" on 27th June. The guide outlines the current situation, with consumers and businesses alike becoming progressively concerned about the value provided by carbon neutrality and carbon crediting programs.
From a legal perspective, the Trade Practices Act 1974 guides claims in this space, with respect to:
- Misleading and deceptive conduct - including conduct that is likely to mislead. The ACCC provides the example of advertising offsets that sequester carbon through tree planting, but failure to note the planting of those trees won't occur for a number of years.
- False and misleading representations - specifically businesses shouldn't claim their products or services have attributes they aren't entitled to or haven't earned, including:
- sponsorship e.g. using a COA logo or an Energy Star label when they haven't earned it;
- approval e.g. from government authorities;
- performance qualities e.g. the carbon offsets are equivalent to something they aren't;
- particular benefits
As ACCC point out, currently there are no Australian standards for trading emissions and carbon offsetting, making it even harder for individuals and businesses to determine what is best for both their carbon offset purchases, and claiming on the benefits of carbon programs.
However for IT businesses and departments claiming a particular carbon status, there are three best practice steps you can take to ensure your program doesn't overstep the bounds of legislation, such as the Trade Practices Act:
- Do your research - ensure any commercial programs you sign up to actually follow the standards outlined in the ACCC's report. Signing up to any company that offers carbon offsetting without a full outline on how, where and when their programs are implemented is asking for trouble.
- Consider the real benefits of your offsetting approach - as outlined last year, tree planting is probably the least effective manner in which carbon can be sequestered. Additionally the planting of trees is finite i.e there isn't enough land on earth to enable everyone to offset carbon through tree planting.
- Consider the entire lifecycle - carbon may contribute to every aspect of the product or service lifecycle. For example, some calculators and programs only consider the carbon generated or offset from the manufacturing but not when the product becomes waste. And if you provide IT services you are claiming are carbon neutral, have you considered the indirect carbon use generated by your service e.g. travel.
References:
ACCC 2008, Carbon Claims and the Trade Practices Act, http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/833279/
GreenITStrategy.com 2007, Tree Planting as carbon offsetting snubbed, http://www.greenitstrategy.com/index.php?view=article&catid=5%3Apolicies&id=34%3Atree-planting-as-carbon-offsetting-snubbed&option=com_content&Itemid=10
