Iberdrola in opposition to Repsol: the primary trial for ecological cash laundering in Spain begins | Companies | EUROtoday

Everything is prepared for the Commercial Court quantity 2 of Santander to obtain tomorrow the events concerned in Iberdrola’s lawsuit in opposition to Repsol for unfair competitors and deceptive promoting, whose oral listening to is being held within the Cantabrian capital. Its proprietor, Judge Carlos Martínez de Marigorta, faces a infamous trial (expectation has pressured the creation of a bigger courtroom) which, past the consequence, has already sparked a debate on the practices of so-called ecological cash laundering. eco-imposture or greenwashingparticularly amongst oil firms. These are promoting methods that some firms use to current themselves and their merchandise as environmentally pleasant, when they aren’t.

Although these kind of practices don’t but seem within the Spanish authorized system, Iberdrola refers in its criticism to the European directive on client empowerment for the power transition accredited final February that does embody them, though it acknowledges that they nonetheless It has not been transposed by Spain.

The lawsuit, additionally filed in February, is directed in opposition to the father or mother firm Repsol SA and two advertising subsidiaries of the group chaired by Antonio Brufau: Repsol Comercial de Productos Petrolófilos and Repsol Comercializadora de Electricidad y Gas, fashioned by the consumer portfolio that Viesgo purchased in 2018. and that preserve their headquarters in Santander.

The alternative of the courtroom on this metropolis and never one of many many in Madrid was stunning from the primary second. Sources near Iberdrola guarantee that the rationale for this alternative, even though the primary two firms denounced are based mostly in Madrid, “has been time.” Compared to the 16 industrial courts in Madrid, there are solely two in Santander, with a processing tempo a lot larger than that of the Madrid courts (none of these are specialised so any of them might have “fallen in luck.” ).

Other sources preserve that the president of Iberdrola, Ignacio Sánchez Galán, who personally filed the lawsuit in opposition to what he considers his new competitor within the electrical energy market, was in search of a coup in public opinion, so it was obligatory that the lawsuit not be resolved. delayed in time, which might have lowered its effectiveness.

A fast battle

The pace of the method by the Santander courtroom has dominated in favor of Galán and his attorneys: the criticism was filed on February 21; On July 18, the preliminary listening to was held, with the presence of half a dozen representatives from every celebration, and tomorrow, November 21, the oral listening to will happen. This pace has led to calculations that the case could possibly be prepared for sentencing on the finish of this 12 months or the start of 2025.

Perhaps for the other purpose, Repsol introduced a declination in April requesting that the trial be held in Madrid, a request that was rejected. Lawsuits for unfair competitors have to be filed the place the headquarters of the defendant is positioned, however on this case there have been three. Repsol thought-about that the jurisdiction of the case corresponded to the courts of the capital, because the criticism was in opposition to the contents of its company web site (which is why the father or mother firm was included within the lawsuit) and in opposition to three promoting campaigns of the entrepreneurs, of which, solely certainly one of them remained lively on the time of submitting the lawsuit. The choose understood that “the most important quantitative action” was in opposition to the Repsol electrical energy and gasoline marketer, based mostly in Santander, so he rejected the request.

In its lawsuit, of simply over 100 pages, Iberdrola calls into query the messages that Repsol transmitted in a few of its promoting campaigns and on its web site: that it’s a chief in power transition; that gives merchandise of renewable origin; that its fundamental goal is to realize web zero emissions (web zero) in 2025 and that the power transition is in its DNA.

To show to the choose that this doesn’t reply to actuality, the electrical energy firm has the recommendation of the consulting agency Nera and the Dentons legislation agency. For its half, for its protection, Repsol has employed the economist and advisor Fernando Barrera and the Ontier legislation agency. In each instances, these are second-rate places of work, given the conflicts of curiosity of the massive companies that, in a technique or one other, already work for the 2 massive power firms within the working.

Iberdrola accuses Repsol of violating the Unfair Competition Law and the General Advertising Law in its messages, though deceptive promoting is already a violation of the primary legislation. A primary query up for debate is whether or not enterprise messages affect consumption or status.

Repsol didn’t wish to reveal its technique within the trial and insists within the messages it launched after studying of the lawsuit: that its goal “is the energy transition by offering competitive services, with the lowest possible carbon footprint and at the same time guaranteeing supply.” In the electrical energy and gasoline market of the peninsula it already has greater than 2.4 million clients and is the fourth largest marketer; It has a capability of two,000 MW of renewables and has gained massive contracts for its greater than 2,000 electrical charging factors.

One of probably the most troublesome points that will likely be debated within the trial focuses on the messages launched by Repsol wherein it maintains that it’s a chief within the power transition. However, their very own professional report now clarifies, in response to totally different sources, that they had been referring to the truth that “they are the leaders in the energy transition” however “among the companies in their sector, that of hydrocarbons.” A nuance that Iberdrola doesn’t share (the promoting messages don’t specify it that manner, they are saying) they usually contemplate it to be a contradiction since Repsol, which defines itself as a multi-energy firm, continues to make use of its fundamental enterprise, oil, as a reference.

Regarding Repsol having the ability to meet its net-zero emissions dedication in 2050, the plaintiff will name this into query, for which it would resort to its personal financial studies. At the second, Repsol, the opposing celebration remembers in its specialists, is the most important emitter of CO2 in Spain and, in reality, in 2021 it elevated these emissions by 16%, so to fulfill its goal it must minimize them by as much as 60% within the horizon of 2035, one thing troublesome, in response to Iberdrola. At this level, the defendant clarifies that the web zero It may also be achieved by offsetting emissions, not simply decreasing them.

An reply that, in response to the studies that Iberdrola will current to the choose, accommodates a entice: it can’t offset, for instance, the emissions of a wind farm that Repsol has bought, however, at most, one which it builds first-hand. In the primary case, it will be the gasoline mixed cycle plant that the wind farm displaces within the electrical energy market that have to be compensated for the CO2 it stops emitting. Community laws solely enable pure compensation (similar to tree planting) or synthetic compensation (carbon seize).

Renewable merchandise

Iberdrola additionally goes into depth in regards to the sale of merchandise of renewable origin that Repsol advertises: biofuels, inexperienced hydrogen and electrical energy bought via charging factors for electrical automobiles. Repsol’s renewable gas – says Iberdrola – “is negligible today” and the corporate doesn’t promote inexperienced hydrogen, aside from consumption on the vegetation of its Basque subsidiary Petronor. According to its knowledge, Repsol sells biofuels at 600 service stations in its community.

The lawsuit repeats on a number of events that solely 0.4% of Repsol’s revenue is taken into account sustainable, for which it cites Repsol’s personal built-in administration report. This is info on revenue and investments that contribute to assuaging local weather change that firms are obliged to supply to adjust to the so-called sustainable finance taxonomy, a European regulation that got here into power in 2021. A measure designed to supply info loyal to buyers and banks.

This sort of revenue that goes past strictly renewable revenue (biofuels made with palm oil are renewable however not sustainable) is, successfully, 0.4% within the case of Repsol. But at Iberdrola, though this determine is far increased, 40%, greater than half of its revenue will not be sustainable both, as much as 60%, in response to its 2023 sustainability report.

Be that as it could, on condition that there are not any precedents for lawsuits for unfair competitors based mostly on greenwashingauthorized sources guarantee that the plaintiff “will have to use extreme skill to convince the judge.”