Holding our big polluters to account

Since John Howard first announced plans for an Australian emissions trading scheme (ETS) in July 2007, some of Australia’s biggest corporate polluters have publicly exaggerated its impacts on their businesses, while giving a very different picture in their formal disclosures to the market.

In 2009, the Australian Conservation Foundation and the Australian Climate Justice Program made a number of submissions to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) asking them to investigate whether six companies had engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct in their public statements on climate policy. The ACCC declined to pursue the complaint.

“Our research shows some of the corporations we referred to the ACCC are continuing with their brazen campaign to secure more free emissions trading handouts at the expense of Australian taxpayers,” said ACF climate change campaigner Phil Freeman.

“Rio Tinto, Woodside and Caltex have continued to make detailed claims that the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme would damage their business or operations, but those claims are not reflected in formal announcements to the stock exchange.

“Two of the companies, Boral and BlueScope Steel, appear to have improved the quality of their disclosures, giving relatively consistent statements about the CPRS to the public and the market, while one company, Xstrata, does not appear to have made further public statements about the impact of emissions trading on its business.

“Unfortunately a regulatory vacuum has left an open door for some of Australia’s biggest corporate polluters to continue their rent-seeking.

“It is important our politicians are not taken in by the massive corporate bluff a number of the big polluters continue to engage in.

“The Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme won’t be effective if it is billions of dollars in the red because of excessive handouts to big polluters.”

Check out the reports below for more information:

Misleading Corporate Carbon Claims (June 2009)
Along with the Australian Climate Justice Program (ACJP), ACF lodged a complaint with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), asking that it investigate whether six companies have engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct when making public statements on climate change policy. The complaint sets out 14 instances in which six corporations have made statements about the impacts of the Government’s proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS).

Too much government welfare for the big polluters (RiskMetrics Report: May 2009)
This report, released by ACF and containing analysis by RiskMetrics Value Advisors, shows corporate welfare for Australia’s biggest polluting companies has blown out to $16.4 billion under the revamped emissions trading legislation. This is due to the delay in introducing the full scheme and the decision to give the most polluting industries up to 95 per cent of their carbon permits for free.

Households to foot the big polluters’ carbon bill (Innovest Report: December 2008)
This report, released by ACF and containing analysis by Innovest Strategic Value Advisors, found that Australian taxpayers will be giving away $3.5 billion in 2010 and $5.3 billion by 2015 to some of the country’s worst polluting companies under the Federal Government’s White Paper proposal for the carbon pollution reduction scheme.

Australia’s tax dollars to flood offshore under CPRS (Innovest Report: October 2008)
This report, released by ACF and containing analysis by Innovest Strategic Value Advisors, found that billions of taxpayers’ dollars could go offshore in free carbon permits to emissions intensive companies under the Federal Government’s original Green Paper proposal for the carbon pollution reduction scheme.

Related links

Two-faced strategy may damage polluters (Australian Financial Review) »
Australia’s biggest polluters are speaking out of both sides of their mouths when it comes to climate change, says ACF’s Charles Berger.

Smoke and mirrors (ABC Unleashed) »
Don Henry writes about ACF’s complaint to the ACCC.

Listen in on ACF Climate Change Campaigner Phil Freeman as reported on SBS News »

The 'Truths' in our advertisement placed in metropolitan newspapers on 4 July were sourced from three different reports:

CSIRO Green Jobs Report June 2008 »

Australia's Low Pollution Future 2008 »

The impact of renewable energy policy on economic growth and employment in the European Union June 2009 »

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