Sustainability focused superannuation fund Future Super has become the latest Australian company to be handed a fine by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) for so-called ‘greenwashing’, as the corporate watchdog continues its efforts to clamp down on those misrepresenting their green credentials.
Australian regulators are increasingly focused on the practice, which occurs when a company inaccurately represents a financial product, investment strategy or a business’s operations as environmentally friendly, sustainable or ethical in a bid to influence consumers.
Energy company Tlou was fined $53,000 by ASIC in October 2022 in relation to what ASIC said were false or misleading sustainability-related statements made to the Australian Securities Exchange the year before, and in February this year, ASIC commenced legal proceedings against Mercer Super.
In the Future Super case, ASIC has issued a $13,000 infringement notice over a four-year-old Facebook post that the regulator said “may have been false or misleading by overstating the positive environmental impact” of the Future Super Fund.
According to ASIC, the post from Future Super in May 2019 included the statement: “Naysayers don’t join together and move nearly $400 million out of fossil fuels”.
At the time, however, Future Super, which was established in 2014, had approximately $400 million in total funds under management and “had no basis to represent that the entirety of those funds had been invested in fossil fuels prior to being invested in the Fund”, said the regulator.
A spokesperson for Future Super told SmartCompany that the post, which was deleted in October 2022, was “missing an important caveat”.
“Future Super self-reported this to ASIC and paid the infringement as a result on April 27, 2023,” they added.
Future Super has B Corporation certification and advocates for sustainable investment practices.
“We care about what kind of future your super investments deliver, so we choose renewables over fossil fuels, responsibility over a quick buck, and the future over now,” the company’s website reads.
“Our investment strategy avoids harmful investments and uses the power of your money to invest in climate solutions and act on the issues of today.”
The enforcement action should “send a message” to companies in the financial services sector that ASIC is serious about taking action on greenwashing, said ASIC deputy chair Sarah Court.
This includes social media posts, as well as statements to the market, disclosure documents, and marketing materials, she added.
“Industry using social media to promote green claims are not immune from ASIC action,” she said in a statement.
“We expect the industry to be able to stand by their sustainability statements and back these up with evidence.”
Since October 2022, ASIC has issued more than $150,000 in infringement notices over alleged greenwashing. This includes notices issued against Tlou, Vanguard Investments Australia, Diversa Trustees Limited and Black Mountain Energy.
The payment of an ASIC infringement notice is not an admission of guilt or liability.
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Eloise is an experienced business journalist and editor, who has held senior editorial roles at SmartCompany since 2014. Prior to joining SmartCompany, Eloise was news editor at Books+Publishing, the trade press for the Australian book industry. Eloise has degrees in media and communications, marketing and business management, and political science. You can follow her on LinkedIn, and Twitter at @ellykeating.
