ESG Enforcement Tracker

Key facts:

In December 2021, the Regional Court of Oldenburg held that a company’s advertisement claims about its climate neutral meat products and climate neutral operations was misleading by omission, under section 5a, paragraph 2 of the Act against Unfair Competition.

The court highlighted that environment related advertising claims are subject to strict information disclosure requirements and that the company had failed to meet the applicable standards in this instance.

The court highlighted that the company had not clarified what ‘climate neutral’ meant; it could mean that:

1. CO₂ emissions during production/distribution were offset through climate projects that the company supported;
2. CO₂ had not been emitted altogether as the company had used renewable energy instead; or
3. there were minimal CO₂ emissions. Accordingly, consumers had been misled as to the definition of ‘climate neutral’.

The court acknowledged that the company’s advertisement included a URL where consumers could learn about exactly how the company would achieve climate neutrality. However, the company should have clearly communicated to consumers that it intended to achieve climate neutrality through its financial support of climate protection projects.