Companies are increasingly trying to put on a green cloak in order to score points with their customers. People all too often use keywords such as “environmentally friendly”, “climate neutral” or even “climate positive” to advertise, although these descriptions do not stand up to closer inspection. Such advertising messages in which companies give the impression that they are more environmentally friendly than they actually are is known as greenwashing.
Our partners Lawyer Georg Huber and Lawyer Stefan Kofler have some exciting examples of the forms of greenwashing we can encounter in everyday life, and also provide information about the current legal situation in the new eco.nova issue LAW:
Greenwashing can take various forms, such as highlighting individual environmentally friendly aspects of a product while hiding other negative impacts, or using environmentally friendly symbols or certificates that have no real meaning. Greenwashing is problematic because it can deceive consumers and cause them to make poor decisions when it comes to purchasing environmentally friendly products.
Consumer associations such as the VKI (Association for Consumer Information) or the German Environmental Aid (DUH) are now taking tough action against greenwashing. In Austria, the VKI has already obtained two legally binding judgments, specifically against Gösser Bier and Austrian Airlines. The German Environmental Aid (DHU) successfully sued the drugstore chain dm, among others.
For the full article in the eco.nova issue LAW (01/2024):