Having pressured South Korean oil giant SK E&S into retracting claims it would produce carbon-free gas, ex-fossil fuel lawyer turned climate advocate Jihyeon Ha now wants tougher action against corporates in a greenwashing crackdown in Asia-Pacific.
“Massive gas projects will have serious, irreversible impacts on the climate, contrary to their ‘CO2-free’ claims,” 35-year-old Ha said in an interview. Globally, greenwashing is in the spotlight, with U.N. experts issuing a warning at last year’s COP27 climate summit about its prevalence, and new standards on environmental, social and governance credentials currently under consideration by an international body.
Despite growing global momentum to curb greenwashing, financial and green analysts say the fact there are several ESG and sustainability standards mean that even defining the problem, let alone finding consensus on it, is difficult. A recent high-profile and first-of-its-kind example involved pension fund Mercer Superannuation, which was sued in February by Australia’s corporate regulator for alleged greenwashing regarding the sustainability of seven of its investment options.
In a statement, the watchdog said companies were obliged to back up any green or sustainable claims with evidence including reliable scientific reports, transparent supply chain information and reputable third-party certification.Asia’s global ESG fund market share doubled to 4% between 2020 and 2022, analysts at Barclays said in January.
“It started with a pure compliance mindset … now many companies are striving to receive better ESG ratings as the market takes note,” he said.