Climate neutrality cannot be invoked for advertising purposes as long as there is no concrete method to measure this promise, ruled the independent advertising self-monitoring body in Switzerland on Tuesday October 31.
Slogans such as “CO neutral2 », “climate neutral” Or “positive for the climate” are therefore misleading, says the Foundation for Consumer Protection (Stiftung für Konsumentenschutz, SKS), working in German-speaking Switzerland.
If companies do not adapt their advertisements, the Ministry of the Economy must act against them, believes the Foundation, on the basis of a verdict from the Swiss Commission for Loyalty (CSL), an independent joint body bringing together representatives consumers, media providers and advertisers.
In two decisions concerning the cases of a heating oil sales company and a baby food producer, the CSL finds that advertising on climate neutrality is unfair. Until there are definitive and generally accepted methods to measure sustainability or to ensure climate neutrality is implemented, such green marketing messages mislead consumers.
According to the CSL’s recommendation, the heating oil company should no longer claim that its product is climate neutral before presenting tangible evidence. On the production side, it should calculate the effects on the climate and clearly prove their full compensation – and this according to a generally accepted method.
The baby food manufacturer used the slogan “our little pots are positive for the climate”. The company argued that its environmental protection projects overcompensated for its own CO emissions2. In the absence of concrete data and evidence, the CSL also recommends that the company abandon this claim.
Alongside the complaints filed with the CSL, the Consumer Protection Foundation also filed complaints with the Ministry of the Economy against unfair climate advertising. These complaints are still pending. “It would be a very bad signal if the Commission’s decisions were ignored by the State Secretariat for the Economy”, underlined Sara Stalder, director of the Foundation. This considers that the absence of legal requirements for advertising linked to the environment is a “fundamental problem”. Until the conditions are clear, advertising with statements “green” must be considered unfair.