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Australia’s main automotive maker Toyota may face fines of as much as $50 million after an environmental group claimed the corporate was deceptive customers about air pollution from its automobiles and its plans to chop emissions.
Greenpeace Australia Pacific made the claims about Toyota in a 25-page criticism to the Australian Competitors and Shopper Fee on Friday, outlining seven allegations in regards to the automotive model.
The criticism got here sooner or later after the Fee introduced plans to crack down on “greenwashing,” or firms making false statements about environmental practices, after a web-based sweep discovered greater than half of companies analyzed had made questionable sustainability claims.
Greenpeace Australia Pacific Electrify marketing campaign director Lindsay Soutar mentioned the environmental group filed the criticism towards Toyota over issues it was not taking fast motion to ship zero-emission vehicles and was lobbying towards a transition to electrical automobiles.
“Toyota Motor Company makes claims in its promoting that give the misunderstanding the corporate is main the transition to scrub vehicles, however the reality is Toyota will not be main the transition however is appearing globally to dam the take-up of electrical automobiles,” she mentioned.
“We consider Toyota Motor Company’s promoting is deceptive Australian customers by understating its vehicles’ emissions and overstating its dedication to scrub transport.”
AAP has contacted Toyota for remark.
In Greenpeace’s criticism, filed by the Environmental Defenders Workplace, the group alleges Toyota’s plan to succeed in net-zero by 2050 is deceptive as the corporate has “no concrete plans” to realize it and had few emission-reduction targets validated by business teams.
The criticism additionally alleges Toyota was not looking for “a fast transition to eco-friendly vehicles,” its Mirai hydrogen automobiles shouldn’t be categorised as “low-emission automobiles,” and the corporate’s hybrid vehicles weren’t “self-charging” because it had marketed however powered by petrol.
An identical declare was banned in Norway in 2020 after its shopper authority deemed the advert deceptive.
The Greenpeace criticism additionally alleged Toyota had been “actively lobbying towards new emissions requirements,” referencing a 2021 report from InfluenceMap that named the corporate because the world’s third most aggressive “anti-climate lobbyist”.
If the ACCC finds Toyota has misled Australians, the authority may ban particular promoting, situation fines or take the corporate to courtroom.
Courtroom-ordered penalties for firms deceptive customers might be as excessive as $50 million or 30 p.c of the corporate’s turnover in the course of the breach interval.
Toyota was the top-selling automotive model in Australia final yr, representing greater than 21 p.c of all new automobile gross sales, and claiming the title of best-selling automobile for its Hello-Lux mannequin.
– AAP
