On June 5, 2025, the Competition Bureau issued its highly anticipated final guidelines on environmental claims, following the proposed guidelines’ release on December 23, 2024. A comparison between the proposed and final guidelines showcasing the relatively minimal changes made by the Bureau in its final version.

However, as anticipated, the final guidelines do not present a considerable departure from the earlier proposed guidelines. The final guidelines lack substantive detail for businesses to map out compliant environmental claims and substantiation, compared to what we have seen in the past through the Bureau’s now archived environmental claims guide.

With that said, what follows are an overview of some of the notable updates.

Internationally “recognized” methodology

The final guidelines attempt to provide some clarity regarding what it means for an environmental claim’s methodology to be internationally “recognized” in the eyes of the Bureau.

For context, claims about the environmental benefits of a business or business activity are subject to evidence-based requirements under the new paragraph 74.01(1)(b.1) of the Act. Specifically, such claims must be adequately and properly substantiated in accordance with “internationally recognized methodology.”

Building on the proposed guidelines, the final guidelines from the Bureau now include specific commentary regarding the concept of what it means for a methodology to be “recognized”:

Recognized: To be acknowledged as valid. Such recognition can come from a variety of sources, including but not limited to standards-setting bodies, regulatory authorities, or even industries or other entities using methodologies that are commonly accepted internationally. However, businesses are reminded that the substantiation must be adequate and proper, so the Bureau always recommends choosing a methodology that is reputable and robust having regard to the claim.

A supplementary example regarding a business environmental claim has been added to the final guidelines, identifying certain International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards as a sample methodology:

Example 2: A business in the agriculture sector has been working hard to reduce nitrogen runoff from its farms into nearby water bodies through precision fertilization, cover cropping, and improved soil management practices. It makes the claim, “Over the past five years, we have protected the environment through reduced nitrogen runoff from our farms into nearby rivers and streams by 50%.” Before making the claim, the company ensured it followed ISO 5667-1 and ISO 5667-6 to measure nutrient concentration in streams directly downstream from its managed fields, both before and after the practices were implemented. The measurements showed a 50% decrease in nitrogen runoff from the managed lands.

In this scenario, the claim would likely be considered by the Bureau to be a representation with respect to the environmental benefits of a business that is based on adequate and proper substantiation in accordance with internationally recognized methodologies.

Similarly, in the FAQ section, the final guidelines now provide an example of a business using the GHG Protocol for Project Accounting standard as an internationally recognized methodology, to substantiate a GHG emissions claim about a business or business activity:

Can the Bureau provide an example of a business using an internationally recognized methodology to substantiate an environmental claim about a business or business activity?

A delivery company wants to do its part for the environment by reducing its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The company therefore develops a plan to phase out 20% of its gas-powered vehicles on average each year, replacing them with zero-emission vehicles, so that the entire fleet will be made up of zero-emission vehicles by 2030. In 2025, the company starts the process of replacing the oldest 20% of its fleet with new electric vehicles and institutes a schedule to replace the rest of the fleet by 2030. The company makes the claim, “To do our part to protect the environment, we will replace, starting in 2025, our delivery fleet with zero-emission vehicles to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 100 tons by 2030.”

Its calculation follows the GHG Protocol for Project Accounting standard, which protocol would allow the company to assess the baseline GHG emissions of the fleet and calculate the GHG emissions after implementation of the project.

The final guidelines also provide that it is unlikely the Bureau will pursue enforcement action under the new paragraph 74.01(1)(b.2) if an advertiser has followed a methodology required or recommended by federal, provincial or territorial government programs in Canada for the substantiation of environmental claims (provided that such methodology provides adequate and proper substantiation for the claim).

Of course, like all marketing representations made to the public, a business must still take care to make sure that any claim does not convey a general impression that is false or misleading in a material respect.

Claims by foreign entities

The Bureau’s final guidelines expressly remind readers that foreign businesses marketing in Canada must comply with the misleading advertising and deceptive marketing practices provisions of the Act. These provisions include the environmental marketing claims provisions, as well as the Act’s broad misleading advertising prohibitions.

Claims made to investors

Following the environmental advertising amendments made to the Act, many businesses looked to the Bureau for guidance regarding how such requirements apply to environmental claims published to investors solely for securities or other non-marketing purposes.

This largely remains a case-by-case determination as there is no bright-line test to determine when an environmental claim turns from being published solely for securities or similar purposes to a form of marketing claim for the purpose of promoting a product or business interest that is captured under the Act. However, the FAQ section of the Bureau’s final guidelines hints that certain environmental disclosures made solely for securities purposes may not be caught by the Act:

My business is a publicly-traded company that provides voluntary and obligatory information to current and potential investors of securities. This information may include environmental claims about my business. Will these representations be caught by the Act?

In Canada, the provinces and territories are responsible for the regulation of securities. These regulations can include evolving frameworks for the voluntary and mandatory communication of certain environmental information to current and prospective securities investors. The Bureau does not concern itself with these representations. However, if the business reuses any of the environmental claims for the purposes of promoting a product or business interest outside of the sale of securities, the Bureau will apply the Act as appropriate.

Limited claims

The final guidelines note that a limited “20% recycled content” claim must ensure that such a claim is not materially false or misleading contrary to paragraph 74.01(1)(a) of the Act – however, in the Bureau’s view, such limited claim would not likely be treated as a claim about the performance or efficacy of a product, nor as a statement of a product’s benefits for protecting or restoring the environment or addressing climate change, requiring adequate and proper testing under the Act.

As such, it would appear the guidelines leave open the possibility for certain limited environmental claims which do not lend themselves to traditional testing methods or to the provisions of the Act which expressly require such testing, to simply require substantiation in accordance with the Act’s broad misleading advertising prohibitions. However, we note that businesses would nevertheless be wise to consider whether such claims are compliant with the Bureau’s archived environmental claims guide (which remains accessible on the website).

Considering the lack of substantive guidance, it is important to keep informed of future enforcement by the Bureau and private actions to gain a better understanding of how to make compliant environmental claims.

If you would like more information regarding this evolving area of regulation or have questions about the impact of these final guidelines to your business, please reach out to our Gowling WLG Advertising, Marketing and Product Regulatory counsel.