Comms Declare, a collective of over 95 advertising agencies and hundreds of communications professionals, has responded to the Australian Association of National Advertisers' (AANA) draft Environmental Claims Code. The draft code, designed to combat greenwashing, expands the definition of an Environmental Claim to include businesses and entire industries, as well as images and graphics.

It also stipulates that environmental claims must be supported by evidence and that omitting crucial information is misleading.

High emission industries, such as fossil fuels, are warned against making broad environmental claims.

Comms Declare Founder, Belinda Noble, said: “We congratulate the AANA on expanding the Code to include high emissions industries, as well as misleading environmental imagery and industry-wide greenwashing. These measures should prevent coal companies or the gas industry, for example, from advertising themselves as being sustainable or green."

However, Noble also voiced concerns about the draft code, particularly its allowance of net zero claims based on offsets or unproven technologies such as carbon capture. Noble said: “There are some items that we hope will be prevented in the final draft, such as net zero claims that are based on the highly contested use of offsets, or unproven technologies such as carbon capture – both of which are possible under this version."

She further noted that the draft code falls short of some overseas regulations on environmental responsibility, which have recently led to restrictions on Toyota ads in the UK. “The draft code falls short of some overseas regulations on environmental responsibility grounds, which recently saw Toyota ads restricted in the UK,” Noble said.

Comms Declare represents professionals who have pledged not to promote the growth of fossil fuels or high greenhouse gas pollution. The AANA initiated a review of its Environmental Claims Code over a year ago to ensure it aligns with community standards and international best practices. The Exposure Draft of the new code has been released for public comment.

AANA CEO, Josh Faulks, spoke about the draft, saying, ""The review of the Environmental Claims Code and release of the Exposure Draft today demonstrates the industry’s strong commitment to stamping out greenwashing. The aim of releasing the Exposure Draft is to give the public, government and industry a further opportunity to help shape the standards around environmental claims.""

The deadline for comments on the Exposure Draft is 5pm on Friday 22 March 2024.