The German Environmental Aid (DUH) is taking legal action against advertisements for environmentally friendly products, as it often classifies them as consumer fraud, or green-washing. A number of well-known brands and companies are affected.
Even the names of detergents convey to customers that they are “sustainable” products. “Pro Climate” is the name of the dm pharmacy chain’s own brand “Denkmit Nature”. But the German Environmental Aid (DUH) is not convinced by the trivialising advertising. On the contrary: the association sees it as a clear case of consumer fraud and false advertising promises and is therefore suing dm. DUH criticises that “the website of the product in question does not sufficiently explain how dm produces the product in an environmentally friendly way”. And on the back of the packaging there is only a general reference to the cooperation with the Technical University of Berlin.
When exactly is a product “sustainable”?
“If you claim environmental and climate protection, you have to prove it,” explains Remo Klinger, lawyer at Geulen & Klinger. “But if you leave consumers in the dark about the creation of so-called CO2 neutrality, you deceive them.” And this is what DUH now wants to systematically detect and prevent. In the meantime, DUH has filed a lawsuit against DM demanding that it refrain from making unsubstantiated advertising claims about climate protection. The company must respond to this demand.
Seven other large companies are targeted by DUH, including the manufacturer Nivea Beiersdorf, the pharmacy chain Rossmann and oil companies such as Shell, BP and Total Energies.
DUH denounces many companies
The use of climate-neutral sounding product names is misleading, according to the DHU. So is the company with the name “Green Airlines”. The airline uses slogans such as: “As soon as you book a flight ticket with us, you are acting climate-fair. With every passenger flown, we offset more emissions than are caused.” Jürgen Resch, managing director of DUH, finds this absurd and denounces the “damage phenomenon” in principle, for example by buying a CO2 certificate.
“The more allegedly overcompensated air travel takes place, the better it should be for the climate in this logic,” says Resch. “If this trade in indulgences made sense and worked, the Federal Minister of Finance would only have to pay 19 billion euros per year for certificates and Germany would be climate-neutral on paper from now on.
Reactions of the companies are very different
Companies react differently. According to market watchdog Agnes Soter, the start-up Mother Nature Berlin, which offers a climate-sensitive action app and promises to reduce the CO2 footprint of its users, has already issued a cease-and-desist declaration with a penalty.
According to Welt, another company has announced cease-and-desist letters. Others will categorically refuse and will soon be prosecuted for the same reason. Still others, including Beiersdorf and Rossmann, have adjusted their websites because of the problems they have encountered, but no blocking has yet taken place. “But we will demand it,” said Sauter.
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