Australia’s first greenwashing case is here. Chances are, it won’t be the last.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission - ASIC - has just brought forward its first ever greenwashing case. It's accused Mercer Superannuation of misleading customers about its sustainable plus fund, one of its superannuation investment options. The Sustainable Plus options were marketed as suitable for members who ‘are deeply committed to sustainability’ due to the fact they excluded investments in companies involved in carbon intensive fossil fuels, alcohol production and gambling.

But ASIC alleges that is far from what Mercer actually did.

These are just accusations currently, it might be the tip of the iceberg when it comes to a crackdown on greenwashing in Australia. The Australian competition watchdog recently completed a sweep of companies environmental claims, and subsequently found 57% of the companies they looked at made misleading statements about their climate action and other behaviour.

Today Sascha and Darcy were joined by AFR journalist Hannah Wootton who helps them answer - is this the beginning of many greenwashing cases?

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