Future Assured Insights: Greenwashing Gets Real

What Canada’s Competition Bureau Guidelines Mean for Your Business

On June 5, 2025, the Competition Bureau released its long-awaited final guidelines on environmental claims, marking a pivotal moment in Canada’s efforts to combat greenwashing. These guidelines follow the June 2024 Bill C-59 amendments to the Competition Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-34), which introduced new provisions specifically targeting deceptive environmental marketing.

What's new?

These new guidelines underline a clear standard for “green” promotions: claims must be truthful, not misleading, and backed by solid evidence. This means no more vague eco-buzzwords or lofty promises without proof.

One of the most significant updates surrounds future-oriented claims, like net-zero targets, which are now under heightened scrutiny. If your business makes, or is planning to make, these kinds of forward-looking statements about environmental goals, you’ll need a credible, realistic, and verifiable plan, complete with interim targets and evidence of meaningful progress already underway. Aspirational claims without substance can now be enforceable offenses.

The message is clear: if you can’t prove it, don’t promote it.

The stakes just got higher

The Competition Bureau is backing these guidelines with serious enforcement. Through the Competition Act amendments, businesses that make false or misleading environmental claims face significant financial and legal consequences.

For corporations, first-time violations can result in penalties of up to $10 million or 3% of global revenue, whichever is greater. For repeat offenders, that jumps to $15 million. These penalties apply not only to the literal wording of claims but also to the overall impression created by marketing materials including visuals, layout, and tone.

One of the most consequential parts of the Act comes into effect on June 20, 2025, with the private right of action. This provision allows individuals, competitors, and advocacy groups to bring legal claims against businesses for greenwashing. It opens the door to class action lawsuits, reputational damage, and costly litigation, in addition to regulatory fines.

Who does this apply to?

The amendment applies broadly to anybody making a representation about a business or business activity that relates to the environment. It is not limited to protecting consumers from false advertising in the traditional sense, but covers what a company, or its employees or representatives, can say to customers, investors, financial institutions, stakeholders, business partners and even regulators and governments.

What this means for businesses

The guidelines draw a sharp line between two types of environmental claims:

• Product Claims: These refer to specific product benefits, such as “biodegradable” or “carbon-neutral” labelling and must be supported by adequate and proper testing that is relevant, recent, and reproducible.
• Business or Activity Claims: These relate to broader operational or corporate-level claims, such as “net-zero by 2050” or “sustainably operated”, and must be substantiated using internationally recognized methodologies, such as the ISO standards or other Good International Industry Practices (GIIP).

In short: no evidence, no claim.

The implications go far beyond compliance. These guidelines represent a major shift in how environmental marketing is regulated and perceived. Businesses must now:

• Reassess all existing environmental claims, from product packaging to corporate sustainability reports, to ensure they meet the new evidentiary standards.
• Embed substantiation into the marketing process, involving legal, sustainability, and technical teams early in campaign development.
• Recognize the strategic imperative, not just the legal risk. Companies that fail to adapt not only risk fines and lawsuits, but consumer trust in an era where transparency and accountability are imperatives.

How to stay compliant and credible

To navigate these new requirements, businesses must go beyond surface-level sustainability messaging and develop a robust substantiation strategy, which may include:

• Data Collection and Management: Implementing systems to track environmental performance with accurate, current, and traceable data, with clear documentation of methodologies and assumptions.
• Benchmarking and Contextualization: Evaluating your performance against industry standards and peers using recognized frameworks to ensure your claims are meaningful and credible.
• Third-Party Assurance: Engaging with qualified industry professionals to independently verify your claims and methodologies, reinforcing transparency and due diligence.
• Legal Oversight: Collaboration with legal and compliance experts who understand the Competition Act’s greenwashing provisions to ensure your claims are defensible and up to date.

This isn’t just about avoiding penalties. It’s about building credible, evidence-based communication that can withstand legal, regulatory, and public scrutiny, and earns the trust of consumers who are increasingly savvy (and skeptical) about green marketing.

With deep expertise in regulatory compliance and sustainability strategy, SLR is well-positioned to support businesses in navigating Canada’s evolving greenwashing guidelines. Whether you're reassessing existing claims, developing a substantiation strategy, or preparing for stakeholder scrutiny, our Corporate Sustainability Advisory team delivers practical, evidence-based solutions to help you go beyond compliance to build lasting trust with your stakeholders.