<
https://reneweconomy.com.au/climate-group-files-complaint-against-advert-claiming-nsw-coal-is-needed-for-energy-security/>
"New South Wales Mining has come under fire for running an ad on its website
which claims that the state’s “high quality” coal is “needed for energy
security” – and “needed for many years to come.”
Climate group Climate Integrity filed a complaint with the ACCC on Wednesday
claiming these statements were misleading and deceptive conduct under the
Australian Consumer Law.
The group says the ad comes “straight from the tobacco industry’s playbook” and
has joined the Australian Greens in calling for fossil fuel advertising to be
regulated like tobacco.
The advertisement was published on the website for NSW Mining, an industry
association that represents coal producers in New South Wales, and in
The Coal
Face, an industry newspaper that describes itself as “the voice of the coal
mining industry and its people.”
It features three young women in high vis and hard hats standing next to each
other, with a headline on the advert reads: “Coal is needed for energy
security”. It makes several other claims, including that “NSW coal is high
quality” and “our coal is needed for many years to come while the world
develops other energy resources.”
Climate Integrity director, Claire Snyder, says the ad presents an “alternate
reality” that downplays the serious harms caused by mining and burning coal and
misleads on coal’s rapidly declining role in global power systems, including
Australia’s.
Climate Integrity’s detailed legal complaint, drafted by lawyers from the
Environmental Defenders Office, points to AEMO’s integrated system plan which
currently forecasts Australia’s remaining coal fleet to close three times
faster than expected with nine in 10 coal-fired power plants to retire by 2035.
It also makes several arguments about why each claim made in the ad is false.
“They’re claiming we need coal for energy security, our coal is higher quality.
All coal harms health and the environment. Saying our coal is cleaner or
somehow less harmful is like saying have a light cigarette,” Snyder says
“It’s misleading, it’s misleading the public, misleading the customers,
potentially misleading shareholders, which is really problematic.
“One of the things it ignores I think is that the serious harms of mining coal
are well established. It makes these claims around energy security and powering
business without any sort of qualification or disclaimer that there is huge
momentum to phase out coal in the next ten years.”
Renew Economy contacted NSW Mining for comment but did not receive a
response."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
