Australia’s biggest natural gas supplier is facing allegations that it misled investors with respect to its emissions reduction targets.
The climate change plan presented by Santos in its 2020 Annual Report is little more than “a series of speculations… cobbled together in a matter of weeks,” according to a barrister representing the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR), which originally commenced proceedings against the $22 billion company in 2021.
Santos “lacked reasonable grounds” for saying it had a clear pathway to reduce emissions by 26-30% by 2030 and to reach net zero by 2040, says the ACCR. These statements, it is alleged, were misleading and breach Australian corporate and consumer laws.
Those allegations are now being heard in the Federal Court of Australia in what the ACCR claims is the first court case in the world to challenge the veracity of a company’s net zero emissions plan.
Representing Santos, Neil Young KC argued that the company’s stated commitment to net zero emissions by 2040 was a target, not a promise or prediction, adding that investors would have understood that not everything presented by the company was an established project.
Major oil and gas companies are frequently accused by environmental organisations of ‘greenwashing’ the public by misrepresenting their activities, while academic research has also found evidence of “selective disclosure and omission” and “inadequate reporting” by these companies with respect to net zero plans.
