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Event Recap: Net-Zero Council Launches New Report on Greenwashing
The event brought together business leaders, legal experts and policymakers to explore the evolving regulatory landscape surrounding environmental claims and sustainability communications.
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The Canadian Chamber of Commerce’s Net-Zero Council, in partnership with the McDonald-Laurier Institute, hosted the launch of a new paper, A Failure of Process and Policy: Canada’s Greenwashing Amendment to the Competition Act in Bill C-59, examining the growing challenges and implications of greenwashing in Canada. The event brought together business leaders, legal experts and policymakers to explore the evolving regulatory landscape surrounding environmental claims and sustainability communications.
The session opened with welcoming remarks from Matthew Holmes, Executive Vice President, International and Chief of Public Policy at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, who highlighted the importance of ensuring that environmental policies and regulations support both transparency and economic competitiveness.
Heather Exner-Pirot, Senior Fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, delivered a presentation on the paper’s key findings, examining the concept of greenwashing, recent regulatory developments, and the potential impacts of legislative measures such as Bill C-59 on businesses operating in Canada. Her presentation underscored the need for clear guidance and regulatory certainty to help companies communicate their sustainability efforts while maintaining public trust.
The event concluded with a panel discussion moderated by Bryan Detchou, Senior Director, Natural Resources, Environment and Sustainability at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. Panelists Sonya Savage, Energy Lawyer at BLG (former Alberta Minister of Environment and Energy); John Pecman, Senior Business Advisor at Fasken (former Commissioner of the Competition Bureau); and Erin Brown, Partner at Norton Rose Fulbright, shared legal and policy perspectives on the evolving greenwashing landscape. The discussion explored the practical implications of recent legislative changes, the challenges businesses face in communicating environmental commitments and the importance of balancing accountability, innovation and competitiveness. Panelists emphasized the need for a clear, practical and made-in-Canada approach to addressing greenwashing that enables businesses to pursue sustainability objectives while providing consumers and investors with reliable information.
The full photo gallery can be found here.
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