Australia is moving away from one of its best-known climate labels after years of concern over whether it was giving shoppers the full picture.
The Albanese government has scrapped Climate Active, an official program that allowed major companies to market products and services as "carbon-neutral" if they met government standards.
What happened?
As reported by the Financial Review, the federal government is discontinuing Climate Active after lingering doubts about the program's credibility helped drive more than 100 participants away.
Created in earlier forms during the era of former Prime Minister Julia Gillard, the scheme offered businesses an official route to make carbon-neutral claims. That endorsement carried significant marketing value as consumers increasingly looked for options portrayed as lower impact.
However, questions about trust continued to dog the label. Critics argued that the designation did not always reflect deep cuts to pollution and may have allowed some companies to keep emitting while promoting greener-sounding claims.
"Climate Active has been overtaken and now is the time to move on," said Assistant Climate Minister Josh Wilson, who led the review of Climate Active. "The government will support Climate Active users with a significant transition period, to be informed by their feedback and insights from this consultation."
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Why does it matter?
Climate labels are meant to make difficult decisions easier. When official terminology is seen as vague or misleading, that becomes much harder.
Communities already dealing with hotter temperatures, worsening fire risks, and other climate-related disruptions could benefit from stronger honesty standards that push businesses toward actual pollution reductions instead of polished messaging.
There are also downsides to the decision. Some businesses are likely to argue that removing the scheme creates uncertainty, particularly for companies that invested time and money to comply with the previous rules.
Others may say that eliminating the label without a clear replacement could create an even more confusing patchwork of environmental claims.
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The end of one system will need to be followed by a stronger one, rather than a regulatory vacuum.
What's being done?
The immediate step is the cancellation of Climate Active itself, signaling that government-backed green claims are coming under greater scrutiny.
A stronger replacement system could require clearer disclosures, tougher independent verification, and a greater focus on cutting pollution at the source rather than relying heavily on accounting-based claims alone.
It could also benefit businesses. Clearer standards may reward companies that are genuinely reducing pollution instead of forcing them to compete with rivals making softer or less verifiable claims.
Removing a contested label will not stop greenwashing by itself, but ending a shaky "carbon-neutral" badge could be a step toward more honest standards.
"Climate Active gave the green tick of approval to everything from polluting gas corporations to petrol at the bowser," Climate Council senior adviser Ben McLeod said, according to the Financial Review. "It was always a distraction from the real job: cutting climate pollution at the source."
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