Environmental Advertising Claims Guide

ESG issues continue to be top of the agenda for organizations and consumers alike, with claims made by businesses around their environmental credentials subject to growing scrutiny and regulatory oversight.

While transparency and accountability are of huge importance to stakeholders in and outside of organizations, they face myriad legal and regulatory risks, particularly claims which are misleading, also known as “greenwashing”. Regulations and guidance can differ greatly between jurisdictions, as too can the penalties for falling afoul of them, making the landscape complex and high-risk for multinational businesses to navigate.

Our Environmental Advertising Claims Guide, prepared by DLA Piper’s Global Advertising and Marketing Law team, gives an overview of the key laws governing environmental advertising across 23-major jurisdictions, alongside pan-European regulation.

The guide will help organizations:

• identify key laws and regulations applicable to environmental advertising claims;
• track upcoming changes to laws and regulations in this area;
• understand the key requirements of each country’s laws on green advertising claims;
• incorporate regulator guidance and local best practice;
• examine examples of admissible and inadmissible claims; and
• review the risks of non-compliance, such as what penalties exist and who can file complaints or claims.

This guide is not a substitute for legal advice, nor is it intended to be an exhaustive guide to all rules and regulations relating to environmental advertising in the jurisdictions covered, nor to cover all aspects of the legal regimes surveyed (such as sector-specific requirements). Rather, it aims to provide a simplified overview and highlight key areas of risk.

Should you have further questions relating to any of the content in the guide, please reach out to the contacts indicated in the relevant jurisdiction chapter.