New Canadian Legislation Shakes Oil Sands and Others “Greenwashing” Claims

In Canada, this last week, the Pathways Alliance, facing measures in new federal legislation to penalize organizations that publish greenwashing statements, announced it was “scrubbing” its website. That’s the only scrubbing the Alliance of Canada’s six largest oil sands producers is doing. It has made no progress in implementing a promised carbon capture and storage (CCS) network of pipelines that has been paraded in front of the media for several years.

Now, a site that used to have all kinds of information and maps about its planned network to remove tens of millions of tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) from oil sands production sites annually and pipe the gas to safe underground storage is a one-page disclaimer posting a three-paragraph statement which says:

“As part of late changes to the omnibus Bill C-59, imminent amendments to the Competition Act will create significant uncertainty for Canadian companies that want to communicate publicly about the work they are doing to improve their environmental performance, including to address climate change.

With uncertainty on how the new law will be interpreted and applied, any clarity the Competition Bureau can provide through specific guidance may help direct our communications approach in the future. For now, we have removed content from our website, social media and other public communications. This is a direct consequence of the new legislation and is not related to our belief in the truth and accuracy of our environmental communications.

To be clear, Pathways Alliance remains committed to the work we are doing. We believe our industry has a key role to play in reducing environmental impacts of oil sands production including helping Canada reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, while also supporting a vibrant economy and providing Canadians with secure access to affordable energy.”

Bill C-59 places obligations on companies to provide evidence to support environmental and climate-mitigation-supporting claims. How have other Canadian companies responded to the new legislation? Some are doing what the Pathways’ Alliance has done while others claim they can provide scientific evidence to support their green initiative statements.

Canada’s large banks which continue to invest in fossil fuel production while claiming they are fulfilling their transition to a low-carbon future in their business practices and operations, are reviewing the legislation and its implications. A recent report shows that Canada’s top banks including RBC, TD Bank, Scotiabank, BMO, and CIBC have pumped more than US $103 billion into fossil fuel projects in 2023 alone. So much for responsible investment that reflects the environment and sustainability.

Imperial Oil, an Exxon subsidiary, and one member of the Pathways Alliance, placed a disclaimer on its web page followed by a release stating its “ability to remain transparent has been significantly compromised as a result of Bill C-59.” 

This is an interesting use of the word “transparent” when greenwashing is what the company has been presenting to Canadians going back to the 1970s when it first knew the science that showed its fossil fuel operations were contributing to global warming but buried the files and said nothing.

Now, Imperial claims that Bill C-59 which was known to be forthcoming since November 2023 has been sprung on it with “little or no consultation” to silence its business in “the important work we are doing to preserve and restore the environment and address climate change.” Three other members of the Alliance, Suncor, Cenovus and Canadian Natural Resources, as of earlier this week have made similar statements to that issued by Imperial.

Bill C-59 has hit a nerve with the fossil fuel industry in Canada and the provincial governments where oil sands operations exist. The Pathways Alliance members have removed their “greenwashing” statements and replaced them with “whitewashing.”

Right from the beginning, the Pathways Alliance has been a public relations gambit unlikely to ever be realized without getting provincial and federal governments to cough up more than $15 billion in promised subsidies before any action from its members to begin the project.

The Pathways Alliance argued it could continue expanding oil sands production while sequestering CO2. The International Energy Agency disputed such pie-in-the-sky claims noting in its reports that it was no longer an option to continue business-as-usual in the industry if the goal was to mitigate climate change. At the time that Bill C-59 was first being considered, the International Energy Agency (IEA) provided a report that stated CCS could not maintain the status quo. Fatih Birol, the IEA’s Executive Director stated then on X that: “Continuing with business-as-usual for oil & gas while hoping a vast deployment of carbon capture will cut the emissions is fantasy.” 

The Canadian government now requires companies to provide solid proof that environmental claims they make can be backed up with defensible proof. No longer is the government and the Canadian public to be sold promises like that created by the Pathways Alliance which has spent very little of its own money to greenwash the public about a CO2 pipeline to carry emissions from oil sands production sites to permanent underground sites. The Pathways Alliance has never intended to spend $16 billion of its own to make the pipeline “pipedream” a reality. Instead, it has done little to move the project forward while holding out a hand to governments to pick up much of the tab.