Tackling greenwashing in energy transition

How can we prevent greenwashing from undermining real climate progress? That's the question students from across Canada tackled at the 2025 SGI Annual Grand Challenge on Sustainability, hosted by McGill’s Sustainable Growth Initiative (SGI). This year's theme focused on implementing Canada’s new anti-greenwashing law (Bill C-59) within the sustainable energy transition industry. Teams presented innovative proposals, from a clean tech rating system to an environmental claims oversight board, aimed at ensuring that sustainability claims by corporations are both ethical and verifiable.

The competition, co-organized with McGill's Centre for Innovation in Storage and Conversion of Energy (McISCE) and sponsored by Gildan, awarded $33,000 in prizes and featured a morning panel on business ethics and decarbonization in partnership with the Laidley Centre for Business Ethics and Equity (LCBEE).