Form · Climate, ESG & Sustainability Reporting
Environmental claim substantiation record (one claim, its evidence and the sign-off)
A record kept for each environmental or sustainability claim before it is published: the exact words and context, the impression it gives, the evidence and its date, qualifications, future-matter grounds, and the legal sign-off, structured around the ACCC's eight principles.
- Kind
- Form. A form to complete, or a guide to completing an official one.
- Where it applies
- Australia
- AI use
- Red Keep AI out of the decisive steps. A lawyer does the work.
- Law stated as at
- 18 October 2026
- Status
- Maintained. Checked on 18 October 2026 against the 3 authorities it cites, for Australia.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Use for each new or renewed environmental claim in advertising, packaging, websites, social media, investor material or sales scripts (for example "carbon neutral", "recyclable", "net zero by 2040"). Keep it on file so the business can show its basis for the claim if the ACCC, ASIC or a competitor asks.
Used for these tasks
Each task page says how far AI may help with the task and what the lawyer must review.
How AI may be used
AI may collect the claim's wording, placements and the documents offered as evidence; a lawyer decides what the claim conveys, whether the evidence substantiates it and whether it can be published.
AI may
- Collect every placement of the claim from the marketing files supplied and record the exact words and context
- Index the evidence documents with their dates, authors and scope, and flag evidence older than the review date
- List qualifications that appear in the evidence but not near the claim
AI must not
- Must not decide the overall impression the claim conveys to ordinary consumers or investors
- Must not conclude that the evidence substantiates the claim, or that a future claim has reasonable grounds
- Must not suggest alternative claim wording for publication
- Must not complete the sign-off section
The lawyer checks
- The impression conveyed has been assessed in its full context, including images, logos and colours (Principle 7)
- The evidence is current, covers the whole of what is claimed and, where relevant, is independent and scientific (Principle 2)
- A future claim (target, commitment or forecast) has documented reasonable grounds, including a plan and resources (ACL s 4)
- Qualifications are clear and prominent, and the claim is not broad or unqualified (Principles 4 and 5)
Method: how the Green, Yellow and Red levels are decided. This is guidance for planning, not legal advice.
Read the full text
The full text is for signed-in accounts. It is free. When you sign in you can:
- read the whole precedent, with its drafting notes beside it;
- copy it, or download it as a Word file or Markdown;
- add it to your firm’s knowledge base, so colleagues can find it;
- let the AI tools you connect read it from that knowledge base.
The summary, the law it rests on and the AI-use guidance above stay public. Privacy.
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