Environmental claims on goods and services
What are environmental claims?
Environmental claims suggest that a product, service, process, brand or business is better for the environment. They include claims that suggest or create the impression that a product or a service:
- has a positive environmental impact or no impact on the environment
- is less damaging to the environment than a previous version of the same good or service
- is less damaging to the environment than competing goods or services
Environmental claims may concern the impact on the environment in general, or on specific environmental aspects such as the air, water or soil.
Environmental claims can be explicit or implicit. They can appear in advertisements, marketing material, branding (including business and trading names), on packaging or in other information provided to consumers.
All aspects of an environmental claim may be relevant, such as the:
- meaning of any terms used
- qualifications and explanations of what is said
- evidence that supports those claims
- information that is not included or hidden
- colours, pictures and logos used
- overall presentation
The difference between genuine and misleading environmental claims
Environmental claims are genuine when they properly describe the impact of the product, service, process, brand or business, and do not hide or misrepresent crucial information.
Misleading environmental claims occur where a business makes claims about its products, services, processes, brands or its operations as a whole, or omits or hides information, to give the impression they are less harmful or more beneficial to the environment than they really are.