GET RID OF
GREENWASH
– a FLAGSHIP
CAMPAIGN?
General Assembly
Brussels, November 14, 2013
Rational behind proposed flagship
campaign
 Green claims often used as a
marketing tool in order to influence
consumer decision to buy a product
 “Green” products are often sold at a
higher price
 If green claims are misleading,
consumer detriment is not only
economical, but can de-motivate
consumers to engage in sustainable
consumption in the future
 Numerous examples of
green claims in Europe
misleading
Low trust among consumers of
environmental claims
 Eurobarometer
2013):
367
(July
 Only a bit more than half
of EU citizens generally
trust producers‘ claims
about the environmental
performance
of
their
products
 Study by Consumer Focus
(2009):
 58% of consumers think
a
lot
of
companies
pretend to be green just
to charge higher prices
Example 1 (appliances): „Very energy
saving refrigerator“
 The consumer center Hamburg (a vzbv member) took legal action
against retailer Media Markt in 2010
 Media Markt used the slogan “very energy saving” for
refrigerator/freezer which was of energy efficiency class “A”.
 This had been considered to be
misleading as 308 out of 543
appliances already belonged to
class “A+” and almost 17% of
all available appliances on the
German market belonged even
to energy efficiency class
“A++”.
 As
the
consumer
center
Hamburg won the case, the
retailer was not allowed to use
this advertisement anymore
a
Example 2 (appliances): Which? Test
of small electrical appliances
 Which?
Performed own
tests on small
appliances
 E.g.
Bosch
steam
generator used
more
water
and consumed
more energy in
its „eco mode“
that on „max
steam“
 No legal action
taken
Example 3 (textiles):Lidl not allowed
to use term „natural product“ for
textiles made of lyocell
 Lidl used to advertise textiles made of
lyocell as a „natural product“
 In order to produce lyocell, large
amounts of chemicals and energy are
necessary
 Verbraucherzentrale Hamburg issued a
notice of warning against Lidl
 VZHH demanded the company to
cease and desist from the advertising
–> Lidl signed declaration
 If Lidl fails to comply, VZHH might
take case to court
Example 4 (toilet cleaners): Tesco
naturally (UK) – test by which?
 As a result of
which?
investigation,
Tesco
is
removing
claim
„no
phosphates“
Example 5 (cars): Opel advertisement
„Insignia ecoFlex“: loads of fun of
driving & low fuel consumption (2009)
 VZBV
admonished
Opel
as
manufacturer
advertised
its
model „Insignia ecoFlex“
with
„climate friendly CO2 emissions“
 Opel agreed not to
slogan in the future
use
this
No EU legislation harmonising
environmental marketing
 Green claims partly covered by specific legislation prohibiting the
misleading use of the claims used (e.g. organic labels, energy
labelling, etc.)
 Outside those aspects covered by specific EU legislation, general
provisions of the Directive on Unfair Commercial Practices are to be
used when assessing environmental claims
 UCPD does not include
environmental claims:
specific
provisions
on
misleading
 It is the general clauses that apply, meaning that the
assessment of a misleading green claim must be done on a
case-by-case basis
 Full harmonization effect of UCPD does not allow MS to adopt
more ambitious provisions, e.g. through general prohibitions on
the use of certain terms (e.g. Eco-friendly)
Objectives of campaign:
Consumers are not being rippedoff by misleading green claims
(1)
To stop the use of blatantly misleading green claims
(concrete products/claims identified at a later stage);
(2)
To show possibilities for redress;
(3)
To make consumers aware how to recognize a misleading
green claim;
(4)
To work with national authorities or businesses where
relevant to further target misleading green claims;
(5)
To lobby for more ambitious guidelines under the Unfair
Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD) to effectively
combat misleading green claims
Strategy of flagship campaign –
EU level
 Collecting examples of misleading green claims
 Quantification of consumer harm in cases of misleading green
claims;
 Enforcement campaign: coordinated enforcement actions
(injunctions, complaints to national authorities, negotiations with
business etc.)
 Assembling information on redress possibilities in each country;
 Push for appropriate EU regulatory action (e.g. revision of Unfair
Commercial Practices Directive)
Strategy of flagship campaign –
Member State level
 Preparation of evidence: provide consumer complaints, cases,
potentially surveys to „build the case“
 Participate in coordinated enforcement activities – taking
injunction actions to courts or national enforcement activities
 Inform BEUC secretariat about concrete
consumers to get redress in those cases
possibilities
for
 Help develop communication material
 Do media work at national level
 Participate in awareness building strategy and activities how to
recognize misleading green claims
Annex
What is a „misleading green
claim“? (p. 37 UCPD Guidance
Document)
 The expressions "environmental claims"
or "green claims" refer to the practice of
suggesting or otherwise creating the
impression that a product or a service, is
environmentally friendly or is less
damaging to the environment than
competing goods or services.
 When such claims are not true or cannot
be verified this practice can be described
as 'greenwashing'.
Example 6 (cars): Lexus ad banned in
the UK (2007)
 Ad for Lexus RX 400h car (192 g CO2/km): „High performance. Low
emissions. Zero guilt.“
 Advertising Standards Authority decided that even though the car‘s CO2
emissions were low compared to similar cars, absolute emissions are still
very high and this would give a misleading impression that this car is
environmentally friendly
Example of „possible“ misleading ads
(no legal action taken) from 2012
 New Renault Espace ad (2012) –
„Nature will reward you. Taxes as
well“
 Similar case to Lexus example in the
UK from 2007?
 Even though the car‘s CO2 emissions
are „relatively“ low compared to
similar cars, absolute emissions
are still high and this give a
misleading impression that this car is
environmentally friendly
 Average emissions of all cars in EU in
2012: 132 g CO2/km
 Average emissions target for all cars
in the EU in 2020: 95 g CO2/km
www.beuc.eu –
environment@beuc.eu