The misleading and deceptive conduct case brought by our client Greenpeace Australia Pacific against Woodside, has been resolved before going to trial.
We are proud to have acted for Greenpeace, which had the courage to take legal action against one of Australia’s biggest polluters.
The case was filed in the Federal Court of Australia in 2023, with Greenpeace seeking to hold Woodside to account for statements made in 2020 about how it would align its business with climate action.
Greenpeace alleged that Woodside’s use of statements such as ‘consistent with Paris-aligned scenarios’ and ‘science-based’ were misleading or deceptive, because Woodside’s plans largely relied on offsets and involved significantly expanding its oil and gas production and processing, which would not materially decrease its emissions.
This was the second misleading and deceptive conduct case filed in the public interest against a fossil fuel company in Australia when proceedings began. Even without a final hearing and decision, this case had a meaningful impact by lifting the bar on transparency and accountability. Since the case began, Woodside has changed the way it communicates plans to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.
Across Australia, there is growing attention on whether climate statements stack up. Public scrutiny through cases like this helps to clarify the rules for companies making claims about their environmental impact.
In March, the Senate Select Committee on Information Integrity on Climate Change and Energy recommended the Federal Government give regulators like ASIC and ACCC the resources they need to combat and expose corporate greenwashing. This is a clear signal to major polluters like Woodside that the public expects transparency and accountability when it comes to the impact of their operations on our climate.
