The Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) has released its final Environmental Claims Code, which has been criticised for being weakened from the Exposure Draft.

The Code has been particularly criticised for removing a caution to emissions intensive businesses making green claims and a reference to fossil fuels. The Code now allows climate polluters to base emission reduction claims on the use of offsets.

Belinda Noble, founder of Comms Declare, criticised the Code for not effectively combating greenwashing. “Unfortunately this shows that greenwashing won’t be stamped out by self-regulation,“ Noble said. “Under this Code, Ampol can still advertise carbon neutral petrol or coal giant Glencore can still say that it is ‘laying the foundations of a low carbon future’.“

Comms Declare, which represents over 100 organisations and hundreds of communications professionals who have pledged not to promote the growth of fossil fuels, has called on the Senate Inquiry into Greenwashing to consider this when making recommendations about new laws later this year. “We call on the Senate Inquiry into Greenwashing to take this into account when making recommendations about new laws later this year,” Noble stated.

More than 40 jurisdictions globally have enacted some form of restriction on coal, oil and gas advertising. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for a ban on advertising from fossil-fuel companies.

“Many governments restrict or prohibit advertising for products that harm human health, like tobacco,” Guterres said. “I urge every country to ban advertising from fossil-fuel companies. And I urge news media and tech companies to stop taking fossil-fuel advertising.”

Comms Declare runs the Smoke Kills and Fossil Ad Ban campaigns.