Making emissions claims to consumers: the ACCC's new guidance

Background

On 20 October 2026, the ACCC published new guidance and a checklist for businesses, titled "Making emissions claims to consumers", setting out how it expects businesses to make claims about greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in their consumer marketing.

Many Australians are concerned about climate change and prefer products and services that are delivered with a lower GHG emissions profile. Businesses want to promote improvements in their emissions profile, and consumers must often rely on what businesses tell them. If what a business says is misleading (including because of what it does not say), it can harm consumers, competition and the overall transition to a low carbon economy and result in a breach of Australian Consumer Law. The latest ACCC guidance seeks to address this.

You can view the ACCC's associated media release here.

Scope of guidance

This guidance builds on the ACCC's 2023 "Making environmental claims" general guide, and includes a number of examples of higher-risk and lower-risk emissions related claims.

The guidance covers product packaging, point of sale promotions, advertising and general website content. It does not apply to mandatory sustainability reporting under the Corporations Act (which is regulated by ASIC) or mandatory labelling.

ACCC and ASIC enforcement actions

Consumer and fair-trading concerns in relation to environmental claims and sustainability are a current ACCC compliance and enforcement priority, and have been since 2022. Examples of recent ACCC Court proceedings include the following:

• The Federal Court in 2025 ordered Clorox Australia to pay $8.25 million in penalties for misleading claims on certain GLAD products, with the words "MADE USING 50% Ocean Bound Plastic*" and "GLAD to be GREEN" alongside an image of waves on blue packaging. The disclaimer on the back of the packaging did not dispel the misleading impression created.

• The ACCC commenced Federal Court proceedings in 2025 against Australian Gas Networks Limited for allegedly claiming without reasonable basis, in its video advertisements, that the gas it distributed to households will be renewable within a generation (due to be heard in September 2027, as at the date of this article).

• The ACCC commenced Federal Court proceedings in 2025 against the maker of Banana Boat and Hawaiian Tropic sunscreens, for allegedly making claims (without testing the sunscreens' ingredients) that their products were "reef friendly" next to an image of coral (hearing date not yet set, as at the date of this article).

ASIC made 47 regulatory interventions to address greenwashing misconduct during the 15-month period up to 30 June 2024, including over $123,000 in infringement notice payments. It has secured a total of 4 greenwashing civil penalty outcomes, including an $11.3 million penalty against Mercer in 2024 and most recently a $7.3 million penalty against Fiducian Investment Services in 2026.

Other key emissions related litigation

Regulators are not the only parties using litigation as a means of challenging businesses' emissions-related claims.

Slater and Gordon filed a consumer class action against AGL Energy Ltd in the Federal Court of Australia in mid-October 2026. It alleges that AGL's "Carbon Neutral" add-on products for electricity and gas, sold since July 2020, were misleading and breached the consumer guarantees under the Australian Consumer Law. The core allegation is that the overwhelming majority of the carbon offsets AGL used did not prevent, reduce or remove/store emissions equal to the customer's energy use.

Summary of latest ACCC guidance

The ACCC frames its guidance around a “Golden Rule” for businesses, together with six prompts to consider when making emissions claims.

Golden Rule - consider the consumer audience

• The test is the overall impression a claim creates for an ordinary and reasonable consumer. What messages are the consumers likely to take away, are those messages clear and do they match reality?

• Images, colours, icons and vague terms (like "guilt-free" and "green") all form part of that impression.

• Small print, asterisked links or disclaimers are unlikely to be enough to change the message of a prominent headline claim.

• The ACCC also warns that language used in regulatory reporting or investor material may be misleading if it is used in short-form in consumer advertising.

Six prompts for testing emissions claims

What you should do

Businesses should do their homework to substantiate their emissions reduction and carbon offset claims. In an investigation into claims like the above, the ACCC could ask for information such as baseline emissions, full-lifecycle emissions data, expenditure commitments, carbon credit details, interim milestones, governance processes and/or the basis on which any of the claims are made.

To manage risk, businesses should consider:

• Reviewing consumer-facing emissions claims against the six prompts above, to ensure they are clear, specific and consistent with the overall impression conveyed to consumers.

• Confirming there is an adequate basis for any claims made, including appropriate supporting data, methodologies and internal (and potentially external independent) verification processes.

If you would like to discuss the ACCC's guidance or review your organisation's consumer marketing, please contact our team.