Greenwashing litigation, climate reporting, and the class action moratorium

This CPD will begin with a launch announcement for Commercial Bar’s Climate Change section, by Lisa de Ferrari SC and Tomo Boston KC.

In Australia, greenwashing litigation, which has increased in recent years, has been largely based on the misleading conduct prohibitions in the Corporations and ASIC Acts, and the Australian Consumer Law. Greenwashing claims seek to challenge the truthfulness of companies’ environmental and climate change messaging. 

The Commonwealth Parliament is now considering a Bill that will require large companies to report on how climate change may affect their financial performance.  The new climate-related financial disclosure requirements will operate alongside the existing reporting requirements in Chapter 2M of the Corporations Act.  But the Bill also offers a three-year protection against private misleading or deceptive conduct claims – effectively, a temporary moratorium on greenwashing class actions. While the moratorium is in place, only ASIC will be able to litigate companies’ climate reports.  

What are the potentially contentious aspects of the new reporting framework? How do these potential claims, and the moratorium, sit within the current landscape of greenwashing litigation in Australia?

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This in an in-person event only, no livestream and will be recorded for viewing later.