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#107 | Canada’s Anti-Greenwashing Framework: From Environmental Marketing to Legal Liability

More Themes – Sep 2025

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#107 | Canada’s Anti-Greenwashing Framework: From Environmental Marketing to Legal Liability
Broadcast Date: September 4, 2025

EPISODE SUMMARY | CONFERENCE | BIOGRAPHIES | RELATED DOCUMENTATION

EPISODE SUMMARY

This episode of In All Fairness looks at Canada’s new anti-greenwashing provisions under the Competition Act, which came into effect in June 2024. Host Ariane Savard is joined by Chris Russill (Carleton University, Re.Climate) and Julien O. Beaulieu (Imperial College London, University of Sherbrooke), to discuss the evolving definition of greenwashing, the role of the Competition Bureau, and the burden of proof now placed on companies. Together, they explore recent cases, potential sanctions, and the broader implications for public trust, corporate accountability, and climate justice in Canada.

Guests

Julien O. Beaulieu, Doctoral Researcher in environmental policy research, Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London
Chris Russill, Associate Professor (School of Journalism and Communication) and Academic Director (Re.Climate), Carleton University

Host

Ariane Savard, Law Student, Faculty of Law, Université de Montréal

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BIOGRAPHIES

Julien O. Beaulieu

Julien O. Beaulieu is a doctoral researcher in environmental policy research at Imperial College London’s Centre for Environmental Policy. His research, which combines methods from law and economics, focuses on corporate liability in relation to climate change, including litigation and policies relating to greenwashing and climate-related loss and damages.

Julien holds a bachelor’s degree in law and an MBA from the University of Sherbrooke (Canada) as well as a master’s degree in economics from the Erasmus School of Economics in Rotterdam (Netherlands). A lawyer since 2018, Julien is also a lecturer at the University of Sherbrooke, where he teaches competition law and corporate social responsibility law.

Julien has conducted several applied research projects on the regulation of environmental claims over the past years, having completed three research reports on greenwashing with the Quebec Environmental Law Center. Julien has also worked for two years as a competition and foreign investment lawyer at a leading Canadian business law firm and for one year as an economist at the Department of Finance of Canada.

Chris Russill

Chris Russill is an Associate Professor in the School of Journalism and Communication and an Academic Director at Re.Climate, a centre for climate communication and public engagement, both housed at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada.

His current work focuses on how climate communication has been transformed by changes to our information environment, and how communicators struggle with disinformation, crisis management, and public engagement as a result. He lectures widely on these topics and is a frequent commentator on these issues in media (Canadian Press; CBC; The Star; Postmedia; AFP Canada; France 24; CTV news; National Observer; Narwhal). He has also made expert submissions to the Competition Bureau on greenwashing and deceptive marketing with Dr. Patrick McCurdy

His current projects include, “Who Killed the Carbon Tax,” an investigation into the communication of carbon pricing in Canada, which will be developed as a true crime podcast.

Chris co-edited Critical Approaches to Climate Change and Civic Action with Anabela Carvalho and Julie Doyle, a collection exploring conceptual invention in public forms of climate action. He has also edited Earth Observing Media, a collection engaging with Google Earth, digital globes, drones, radar, sonar, GPS, and satellite imaging.

He is an Associate Editor at Science and Environmental Communication and serves on the boards of Environmental Communication, Palgrave Studies in Media and Environmental Communication, and Communication Undisciplined. He teaches classes in Climate Change + Communication and contributes to the new Collaborative Specialization in Climate Change (you can do this degree in our communication program!).

Chris completed his Ph.D. in communication at Penn State, and his M.A. and B. A. at York University in Toronto. He is an external member of the Institute for Environment, Conservation and Sustainability at the University of Toronto, a former fellow at the Balsillie School of International Affairs, and a former editor of the Canadian Journal of Communication.

Ariane Savard

After more than a decade as an entrepreneur leading A+R atelier, a graphic design studio, Ariane Savard made a professional transition into law. She is currently a third-year law student at Université de Montréal and has completed a summer internship at the Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice (CIAJ). Building on her extensive experience in project management and client relations, she is particularly interested in access to justice, legal research, and the intersections between law, society, and communication. Ariane seeks to explore a practice of law grounded in creativity, authenticity, and interdisciplinary collaboration.