Active Super to pay $10.5m greenwashing penalty
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The news: Active Super must pay a $10.5 million penalty for false or misleading claims linked to its investments, following a judgment by Federal Court of Australia Judge David O'Callaghan.
In handing down his judgment on Tuesday morning, O'Callaghan ordered Active Super pay the penalty within 30 days of receipt of a penalty notice.
The superannuation fund must also email all members as of June 2024 and publish a notice on various web pages linked to Active Super with the title, “notification of misconduct by active super”.
O'Callaghan also ordered Active Super to pay ASIC's legal costs.
The context: Despite saying it was committed to ethical and sustainable investments, O'Callaghan said in a June 2024 judgment that Active Super breached the Corporations Act by making false or misleading claims over investments linked to the gambling and coal mining industries during the period 1 February, 2021, to 30 June, 2023.
The fund was also found to have made false or misleading claims from May 2022 when it said it would divest of Russian investments after the country's invasion of Ukraine. The court found the super fund was still invested in Russian companies Gazprom PJSC and Rosneft Oil Company by 30 June 2023.
ASIC announced its lawsuit against Active Super in August 2023, alleging misrepresentations were made on Active Super’s website, disclosure documents and on social media platforms Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
At the time, it was ASIC's third greenwashing civil penalty case.
The source: Federal Court of Australia
