As
consumers are increasingly gravitating towards products which are less detrimental
to the environment, therefore leading to a rise in “green” products demand,. To
respond to this demand, sustainable and environmentally-friendly products are
being developed at an unprecedent rate, unfortunately, the occurrence of
greenwashing has also gone through the roof recently. Earlier this year, the European
Commission, along with several European national consumer authorities, released
a report that showed that 42% of brands included in the survey made some sort of
misleading green claims. More
specifically, in more than half of the cases, the claims were not accompanied
by enough information which would allow the consumers to judge its accuracy.
Furthermore, in 37% of the cases, claims included vague unverifiable statements
which only served to convey that a product had no negative impact on the
environment. Finally, in 59% of the cases, the claims were not accompanied by
easily accessible supporting evidence. Not only does greenwashing mislead
consumers, such counter-productive practices may result in even more damage to
the environment, and work against consumers’ wishes.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is a
branch of the UK government which is responsible for making sure that markets
are safe and fair for consumers and businesses alike. At the end of September,
the CMA released its new Green Claims Code...
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