Canada's new 'greenwashing' ban faces challenges from industry and provincial leaders

If you have questions about where Canada's oil sands industry stands on climate change, you're not alone. It's time to clear the air. You may have seen this ad from a group of Canada's largest oil companies, the Pathways Alliance, promoting its plan to get oil sands production to net zero emissions by 2050. You'll now find only a disclaimer on the group's website. With uncertainty, we have removed content from our website, social media and other public communication. It's important that we have. Markets where there's proper information, and I think that's what this bill is trying. Achieve trying to make sure that whenever a company is communicating about what it's doing well in terms of environmental performance, it's backed by evidence. Earlier this month, Ottawa passed a bill that took many in the energy industry by surprise, amending the federal Competition Act to require that companies that make environmental benefit claims back up their claims with evidence or face steep fines. Certainly with this, there's going to be some companies that didn't have restrictions on what they were saying before. And we're, you know, maybe trying to do their best for the environment, but we're making some fairly large claims. While many environmental advocates have come out in support of the changes, groups representing business and energy industry interests were quick to voice their concerns. Kevin Krausert is the CEO of a Calgary based clean tech startup accelerator. We've just thrown a pretty large web bank blanket on the ability of clean technology startups and innovators in our country to be able to advance their technologies so that we can meet our, our climate emission reduction goals. The new laws have also been criticized for being vague. Leaving companies unsure of how to properly defend their claims. The Competition Bureau says more clarity is coming. Still, the Alberta government says it plans to challenge the legislation in court. Fortunately, they've given a car vote for the provincial government. And so if we're the only voice able to be out there loud and proud without the fear of fines or some kind of punishment or some kind of frivolous lawsuits, we're going to do it well. Anyone outside government will now need to tread carefully when it comes to communicating their environmental claims. Heather Eurek's West Global News, Calgary.