Alberta’s $7-million advertising campaign against federal limits on greenhouse gas emissions is boosting claims by the oil and gas industry that could be considered greenwashing, but legal experts say it’s unlikely governments can be held accountable under the same legislation.
The ads, placed prominently on the covers of major daily newspapers in four Canadian provinces in mid-October, directed people to an Alberta government website, ScrapTheCap.ca. The site argues against a proposed national emissions cap, repeating the claim that it is actually an oil and gas production cap.
Another part of the website questions the need for emissions limits with a statement by Tristan Goodman, CEO of the Explorers and Producers Association of Canada (EPAC), that oil and gas producers are already achieving “significant emissions reductions, as shown in the federal government’s own data.”
That statement doesn’t match Government of Canada data reporting that the oil and gas sector’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions increased 83% between 1990 and 2022. In 2022, oil and gas was Canada’s largest source of GHG emissions, accounting for 31% of the total.
Alberta is the largest emitter of greenhouse gases of all the provinces, even after cutting emissions from its electricity sector by more than half in the last five years. CBC shared the detailed data in May, and in an interview with Marie Christine Bouchard of the Pembina Institute, reported the reduction was achieved by phasing out coal power.
No Accountability for Government Advertising
Under recent amendments to Canada’s Competition Act, corporations face greenwashing regulations to prevent false claims about “protecting or restoring the environment or mitigating the environmental and ecological causes or effects of climate change” when they promote their products or services. When the new rules were announced in June, Alberta folded its Canadian Energy Centre Ltd., a private corporation, into the government’s intergovernmental relations ministry. As soon as the legislation passed Parliament, the Pathways Alliance, the lobby group representing major oil sands producers, scrubbed its entire website.
But none of that stops the province from promoting the industry position on its own dime. Ecojustice lawyer Matt Hulse told The Energy Mix the new greenwashing rules focus on private entities promoting a business interest.
The provisions would include a Crown corporation engaging in commercial activities. But Hulse said it would be very difficult to argue Alberta is accountable for its recent advertising campaign because the provincial government is not directly advancing a business interest.
“They’re basically just complaining about the federal policy,” said Hulse, “which is frustrating because they are calling it ‘political speech’ and that’s not captured by the Act.”
That means government advertising claims, without sources or attribution, may be creating a way for companies to have their positions repeated without violating the legislation, two different lawyers told The Mix. In this case, the Alberta government advertising campaign against an oil and gas emissions cap for the oil and gas industry argues it is “unnecessary,” but like the industry association it quotes, Alberta offers no information to back up that claim.
“It’s problematic that governments are parroting what we highly suspect is greenwashing,” Hulse added. But for the Competition Act to apply, “it would have to be traced back to those who made the claims in the first place.”
That may be easier now that The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) has launched its own website last week and purchased Facebook ads with similar claims about the emissions cap.
False Claims
Conor Curtis, head of communications for Sierra Club Canada told The Mix both the new ads and the previous series from Alberta are making a false claim.
“We know the emissions cap will in fact allow room for the oil and gas corporations to expand production while meeting bare minimum emissions reductions,” Curtis said.
“Whether you see that as a good thing or not, it means they would have to finally abide by their own promises and we would finally have a shot at reaching Canada’s climate targets,” he added. “It’s frankly embarrassing that these corporations are so dedicated to trying to weasel out of doing the bare minimum.”
Priyanka Vittal, legal counsel for Greenpeace Canada said the claims on Alberta’s website look like greenwashing.
“This looks like an ad campaign riddled with misinformation putting corporate interests ahead of Canadians,” she told The Mix in an email, adding that “a misleading advertising campaign can have devastating consequences for Canadians if the public and lawmakers take this as truth.”
The campaign claims an emissions cap would “increase the cost of everything.” But University of Calgary economist Trevor Tombe told CBC that even though he doesn’t like the federal government’s policy, he doesn’t buy the claim it would result in rising gas prices and therefore groceries.
“Gas prices are largely determined by taxes, retail markups and margins, and global oil prices,” he said. And “there hasn’t been any credible analysis suggesting that Canada’s emissions cap on oil and gas will affect world oil prices.”
Both lawyers interviewed by The Mix suggested that someone could make a greenwashing complaint to the federal Competition Bureau about an industry group quoted on ScrapTheCap.ca if their claims could be proven false. The Alberta government site “is just another place where they could be making a false representation,” Hulse said.
Misinformation in Times of Crisis
Critics said the provincial campaign runs counter to what the majority of Albertans want, and to the province’s own best interest.
“Even experts who are not necessarily in favour of climate policies are saying a lot of the stuff in this campaign is not true,” Curtis said. “We know from polling done in Alberta that the majority of residents support the cap, and yet their taxpayer dollars are being used to run a misinformation campaign.”
And “the worst thing is that it’s coming at the expense of the Alberta taxpayer at a time when that money is needed for things like wildfire preparedness or emissions reductions within Alberta or renewable energy within Alberta, things that are actual solutions,” Hulse added.
EPAC hadn’t responded to a request for the federal government data Goodman cited as The Energy Mix went to virtual press Monday evening. The same claim appeared in an EPAC news release late last year. We’ll update this story if they respond.
Meanwhile, one environmental group has created a parody of the ScrapTheCap.ca website and called it CapTheCrap.ca.
“It’s shameful that the Government of Alberta is wasting millions of public dollars to serve the interests of fossil fuel CEOs,” Amara Possian, Canada Team Lead at 350.org, said in a release.
The parody site closely resembles the design of Alberta’s website, which CapTheCrap.ca calls “pro-oil propaganda.”
“While the Alberta government’s campaign uses fear-based tactics to mislead the public about the federal emissions cap, 350.org’s site lays out the costs of climate inaction and the positive implications of strong climate policies that serve both people and the planet,” the 350.org release stated.
