MEDIA ALERT: ACCR v Santos Ltd - Judgment

What: Judgment, Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility v Santos Ltd

Where: Court Room 18C, Federal Court of Australia, 184 Phillip Street, Sydney NSW 2000.

When: 9.30am, Tuesday 17 February 2026.

Video streaming: If you wish to observe the delivery of judgment, we recommend making a request via email to the Federal Court nswreg@fedcourt.gov.au and include reference to the proceeding number (NSD858/2021).

Court file access: To request a copy of court documents contact the NSW Registry of the Federal Court by email at nswreg@fedcourt.gov.au or by phone on 1300 720 980, providing the proceeding reference (Matter No NSD858/2021 ACCR v Santos Ltd) and follow the Registry’s instructions.

Background

In 2021, the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR) commenced landmark proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia alleging that Santos Ltd breached provisions of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and the Australian Consumer Law by engaging in misleading or deceptive conduct relating to representations in its 2020 Annual Report, 2020 Investor Day Briefing and 2021 Climate Change Report.

This was the first court case in the world to challenge the veracity of a company’s ‘clean energy’ claims and its pathway to net zero.

The key allegations of misleading and deceptive conduct concern three major areas:

• representations that Santos is a producer of “clean energy” and that natural gas is a “clean fuel”.
• representations that hydrogen produced by Santos from natural gas with carbon capture and storage (blue hydrogen) is “clean hydrogen” and “zero emissions hydrogen”.
• representations that Santos had a clear and credible pathway to ‘net zero’ by 2040.

The Court heard the matter over three weeks in October, November and December 2024.

Media contact:
Kate Sieper (AU) - M +61 466 745 615