Santos is being sued for its ‘clean fuel’ claims. 

A shareholder activist group is taking oil giant Santos to court over claims it produces “clean fuel” and plans to reach net zero emissions by 2040.

The Environmental Defenders Officers has brought the legal action on behalf of the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility.

The two central claims of the case are to do with statements Santos made in its 2020 annual report, which claimed natural gas is a “clean fuel” that provides “clean energy”.

ACCR says this is a misrepresentation, because extracting natural gas involves the release of “significant quantities of carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere”.

The lawsuit also questions statements by Santos that it has a “clear and credible” plan to achieve net zero emissions by 2040 through carbon capture and storage (CCS).

ACCR argues relying on CCS for net zero is not credible. It accuses Santos of making “a range of undisclosed qualifications and assumptions about CCS processes” and seeking to massively expand the extraction of fossil fuels at the same time.

Dan Goucher, ACCR’s Director of Climate and Environment, said oil and gas companies should be confronted if they try to “greenwash their operations”.

“We read annual reports and sustainability reports from a range of companies every day. And some of these claims are completely unjustified,” Mr Goucher said. 

“The key point for us I guess is that it’s become very difficult for any investor to differentiate between companies making genuine claims and companies that are not genuine.”

“This litigation is trying to debunk those more spurious claims.”