More than 400,000 Australians who signed up to power company EnergyAustralia’s Go Neutral scheme were assured they were supporting a worthy cause. “You’re doing good things for the environment”, the glossy brochure said.
Under the scheme, which EnergyAustralia has since taken the “commercial decision” to close, the company would offset the carbon emissions produced by customers’ domestic gas and electricity use. In the process, they could bank some goodwill.
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The Federal Court will today be asked to test whether the energy giant’s promotion of “carbon-neutral” products amounted to misleading and deceptive conduct, a contravention of the Australian Consumer Law.
Under one scenario, EnergyAustralia told customers, it would buy carbon credits from a geothermal development in Indonesia and use those credits to offset customers’ domestic energy use in Australia.
Under another scenario, planned grass burns in Arnhem Land would be considered to “offset” any potential emissions generated from large bushfires that could theoretically break out in the Top End if the planned burns had not taken place.
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