The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) has issued notices regarding greenwashing against Black Mountain Energy (BME).
ASIC issued three notices to BME regarding alleged false or misleading sustainability-related statements that were made to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) between December 2021 and September 2022.
BME has complied, paying over $39,000 in response.
ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court said the three notices were among other issued in 2022.
“ASIC issued eight infringement notices for alleged greenwashing in 2022 and has started the year with further action against a listed company.” Ms Court said.
“ASIC will continue to closely monitor sustainability claims and take action where we consider representations cannot be sustained or are factually incorrect.” She said.
Greenwashing is a term used to describe when companies claim something is sustainable or environmentally friendly, while masking non-sustainable practices or products.
The infringement notices to BME were made based on statements claiming the company was creating a “natural gas development project with net zero carbon emissions” and the greenhouse gas emissions associated with Project Valhalla would be net zero.
In three reports of the notices that were published on ASIC’s website, they outlined their reasonings for issuing the notices, specifying that at the time of issue, BME had not sought to substantiate their claims.
“BME had not progressed any specific works related to its net zero aim and had not allocated funding for such works.” ASIC said in one infringement notice.
“BME did not have a credible or feasible plan for an ‘unconventional drilling’ approach or any other approach that would produce carbon neutral natural gas.
“BME had no credible basis for asserting that the natural gas it produced would be carbon neutral.
“BME had no reasonable grounds for making the Representations regarding net-zero carbon emissions from Project Valhalla.” They said.
ASIC issued the notices out of concern that BME either were unable to substantiate these claims, or they were factually incorrect.
While BME paid the notices, this is not considered an admission of guilt.
