2023-10-31 14:21:24
The Swiss Loyalty Commission considers mentioning climate neutrality unfair. As long as there are no methods to concretely measure this promise, it cannot be invoked for purposes.
Slogans such as “CO2 neutral”, “climate neutral” or “climate positive” are therefore misleading, said the Stiftung für Konsumentenschutz (SKS), the German-speaking counterpart of the French-speaking Consumer Federation, on Tuesday. If companies do not adapt their , the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) must take action once morest them, the foundation concludes, on the basis of a verdict from the Swiss Loyalty Commission (CSL).
In two decisions concerning the cases of a heating oil company and a baby food producer, the CSL finds that on climate neutrality is unfair. Until there are definitive and generally accepted methods for measuring sustainability or ensuring implementation, such green marketing messages mislead consumers.
Complete proof to provide
According to the CSL’s recommendation, the heating oil company should no longer claim that its product is climate neutral before presenting full proof. On the production side, it should calculate the effects on the climate and clearly prove their full compensation according to a generally accepted method.
The baby food manufacturer used the slogan “our baby food is climate positive”. The company argued that its environmental protection projects overcompensated for its own CO2 emissions. In the absence of concrete data and evidence, the CSL also recommends that the company abandon this claim.
No legal requirements
Alongside the complaints filed with the CSL, the consumer protection organization has also filed complaints with Seco once morest unfair climate . These are pending.
The foundation believes that the lack of legal requirements for environmental is a “fundamental problem”. As long as the conditions are not clear, with “green” claims should be considered unfair.
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