E&E Legal Files Supplement to August Petition Now Asking SEC to Address Amazon’s False and Misleading Climate Change Statements
For Immediate Release:
October 3, 2019
Contact:
[email protected]
202-810-2001
Washington, D.C. – Yesterday, the Energy & Environment Legal Institute (E&E Legal) filed a supplement to it’s August 13 petition to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) seeking action to prevent and prohibit registrants from making false and misleading statements regarding global climate change. The initial petition, which was authored by E&E Legal’s Senior Policy Fellow and JunkScience.com founder Steve Milloy, focused on recent false climate claims made by Apple, ExxonMobil, Xcel, and Exelon.
Yesterday’s petition supplement zeroed in an unsubstantiated and meaningless pandering climate statements by Amazon.com Inc. (Amazon).
In the SEC correspondence, Milloy notes, “Amazon has made multiple false and misleading statements in an effort to polish its public image. A charitable term for this is ‘greenwashing.’”
The SEC petition supplement focused on five specific areas where Amazon is making false and misleading climate statements. These include:
- Amazon can meet the Paris Climate Agreement 10 years early.
- Amazon is making a “difference” to global climate.
- Amazon’s electric vehicle initiative will reduce climate change.
- Amazon’s renewable energy is a benefit.
- Amazon’s reforestation initiative will cool the planet.
“Many companies are making similarly false and misleading climate claims,” Milloy said. “One major purpose of the SEC is to prevent companies from making false and misleading statements and that’s exactly what we seek with our petition and supplement.”
The SEC first issued climate guidance to US companies in 2010. But that guidance only applied to disclosure regarding business risks from climate change. Since then, US companies have evolved from merely disclosing risks to their businesses to dubious marketing use of their climate actions as marketing points.
Earlier this year, the SEC Division of Corporation Finance upheld Milloy’s position in related shareholder proposals he filed against electric utilities Duke Energy and Exelon. “It was encouraging that the SEC upheld my proposals in the face of blatantly false and misleading statements made by Duke and Exelon,” said Milloy. “Now it is time for the SEC to take action applicable to all public-owned companies,” he concluded.
The Energy & Environment Legal Institute (E&E Legal) is a 501(c)(3) organization that champions responsible and balanced environmentalism which seeks to conserve the nation’s natural resources while ensuring a stable and strong economy through energy dominance. Specifically, E&E Legal advocates responsible resource development, conservation, sound science, and respect for property rights.
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