A few weeks ago I wrote this post about how emissions trading won’t cripple the heavy emitting industries, and that some of the claims that industry have been making were pretty overblown.
Well it seems I’m not the only one that thinks this way.
The Australian Conservation Foundation and the Australian Climate Justice Program have asked the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to 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).
The complaint alleges these statements are exaggerated and contradictory when compared with the companies’ disclosures to shareholders and independent analysis.
The six companies named in the complaint are Rio Tinto, Woodside, Xstrata, Boral, Caltex and BlueScope Steel.
“We believe there is a prima facie case for investigating possible breaches of the Trade Practices Act,” said ACF executive director Don Henry.
“Some of Australia’s biggest corporate polluters appear to be presenting the worst case to government and the public, in an effort to gain excessive free permits, while presenting the best case to investors, in order to keep their share prices up.
“We are asking the ACCC to investigate whether our politicians, policymakers and the public have been deceived by the likes of Rio Tinto, Woodside and Xstrata.
For more coverage, see here and here.
I think this will be an interesting case to watch, and may have a big impact on how the Government handles free permits under the CPRS. I bet the lawyers for these few companies are putting in some long hours planning their response.
[...] I wrote a few posts back, the Australian Conservation Foundation lodged a complaint with the Australian Competition and [...]