Greenwashing is under fire. Can the energy sector stay out of its crosshairs?

It may be time for the Australian energy sector to brush up on the wisdom of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. In particular, “to thine own self be true”.

News of the ACCC’s greenwashing blitz and action by ASIC will be giving some in energy circles pause for quiet thought, if not chills.

The focus of this blitz was on other industries. But late last year, ASIC sent a shot across the bows, with its first energy greenwashing scalp.

Energy is such an easily demonised industry.

After all, those who work for fossil fuel companies aren’t directly saving pandas from extinction or providing medical care sans frontiers.

But the changes that are underway are epic and existential.

The truth, from my experience, is that most energy businesses have a very high proportion of people who are devoted to making a real difference.

Clever, committed, principled folk.

Many are more earnest than the public would expect or will ever fully appreciate.

It’s an industry in rapid transition and there are tens of thousands of people, sincere in their convictions, working hard to make the right changes happen.

When they make a difference, they want the world to know.

And it’s right that they do.

A large part of my work is helping energy businesses do just that; explaining and amplifying their clean energy mission, achievements and goals through the media and to key stakeholders.

However, I also sometimes find myself advising where credibility is being stretched.

That’s a serious problem, even when the ACCC or ASIC isn’t looking.

It’s hard not to get excited by the scale of the change that’s being driven and the speed with which it is coming. It’s thrilling. And that lovely word, “unprecedented”.

But messaging around green credentials needs to be approached cautiously, particularly where a business’s record is nuanced or worse, chequered.

Across the industry there are some quite extraordinary mission statements.

Some leap the fencing of the “ambition paddock” and run deliriously free into the land of sheer fantasy.

That isn’t, in itself, a problem, of course you need to dream to have vision. But by its nature a mission or vision isn’t where you are now.

The trouble starts where formal messaging, public communications and advertising also pin their ears back and run wild.

For those driving change, there can occasionally be dangerous self-deception about the current state of play or even the pace of change.

It happens like this. There are much-repeated, internally accepted “truisms” that are alluring perspectives on how the business operates, but don’t reflect reality in the short-term. It may be time to take a closer look or seek external perspective.

The focus on greenwashing should prompt brave review and revision. Those conversations may be difficult but are necessary.

All this doesn’t mean hiding environmentally friendly new lights under a bushel.

It means having honest conversations about the credible way to frame businesses in their entirety.

Those with the biggest carbon footprints have the greatest opportunity to drive change we need. That isn’t greenwashing. It’s exactly where those wanting to change the world need to be. A fifty per cent cut in a big number is nearly always still a big number. And it’s a killer message.

The public and key stakeholders give credit to authenticity. Humble too can go a long way – acknowledgement of the history and the reality of the job yet to be done doesn’t go amiss.

But where credibility is stretched to breaking point, that loss of trust spills over to all communications, to brand and can be long lasting, taking years to recover.

In this current blitz, the ACCC said it was concerned at the level of greenwashing identified in advertising and packaging of 247 businesses.

The regulator found 57 per cent of the companies reviewed made inflated or wrong claims about their environmental impact, with the cosmetics, clothing, footwear, and food and drink industries the worst offenders.

Energy seemingly escaped the focus in this round.

However, it will need to take a cautiously self-aware approach to statements if it is to stay out of the crosshairs.

In other words, this above all, to thine own self be true. 

Mike Duffy us principal consultant at Elexia Energy Communications