100+ Aussie firms ‘have quit government carbon-neutral scheme’ 

More than 100 companies have quit Australia’s carbon neutral certification scheme over the past two years, according to an investigation by the Sydney Morning Herald.  

Big names including telecoms giant Telstra and PwC Australia are among those to have ditched the government-backed initiative, Climate Active.  

The scheme has been under fire over over its support of carbon offsetting as a means to achieve carbon neutrality, and had been expected to announce “program reforms” at the end of last year, but has yet to make any public updates. 

Think tank the Australia Institute filed a complain in 2023 with the country’s consumer watchdog, alleging that the certification scheme was misleading under consumer law. 

Later the same year, the watchdog’s former chair appeared to agree, urging the government to investigate the programme for greenwashing – an accusation Climate Active denies. 

A spokesperson for the Australian Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water told REP: “The Australian Government is carefully considering the future direction of the Climate Active program, including how to drive effective voluntary climate action and provide consumers with confidence about business’ climate claims.” 

More than 500 entities are understood to use Climate Active for certification, including 339 at entity level, 56 at asset level, 61 at product level, 37 at service level and nine at event level.

Big emitters Origin and AGL are among the firms that have their products certified.    

Note: This article was updated after publication to include comment from the Australian Government