Guidance for UK Green Marketing Laws
Consumers are increasingly demanding products and services that are less harmful to the environment. Environmental claims allow consumers to make more informed choices about their purchases. This means the environmental claims that businesses make must not be misguiding and should avoid “greenwashing”. Greenwashing occurs when a business gives a false impression, or misleading information about their, or their product’s, environmental impact. Greenwashing may occur through the use of ambiguous statements, environmental imagery, or inaccurate labels. To reduce greenwashing, the UK has enacted Green Marketing Laws, which highlight the importance of green claim verification. Green claim verification supports businesses by substantiating and verifying the claims they make on their products.
Based on UK consumer protection law, the Green Claims Code is a set of guidelines issued by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which ensures businesses accurately represent their environmental claims and avoid greenwashing in their marketing and advertising. It has also underlined the vital importance of green claim verifications.
The CMA’s guidance document applies to all commercial practices and all businesses who make environmental claims, setting out principles designed to help them comply with Green Marketing Laws. To summarise the principles, they state that comparisons must be fair and meaningful, and that claims must
- Be truthful and accurate
- Be clear and unambiguous
- Not omit or hide important relevant information
- Consider the full life cycle of the product or service
- Be substantiated
Combatting greenwashing in fashion and retail with Green Marketing Laws
The CMA have also published a compliance document to help explain how fashion retail businesses can avoid greenwashing and follow the Green Claims code when making environmental claims. This comes following the CMA’s investigation into ASOS, Boohoo and George at Asda, drawing on the greenwashing conclusions made during the investigation.
The compliance document is relevant for all businesses making environmental claims about:
- Clothing
- Footwear
- Fashion accessories
- Related services (e.g., packaging, delivery and returns)
Whilst the focus of the document is on greenwashing in fashion retail, including retailers selling their own or third-party products via marketplaces, it is also relevant for manufacturers, suppliers, wholesalers, and distributors.
It applies to environmental claims about products, services, processes, brands, or the business as a whole, and highlights the significance of green claim verification to help businesses comply with regulations and build consumer trust.
The table in the following section summarises the key points.
Key guidelines for avoiding greenwashing
| Don’t hide important information |
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- Be clear and prominent
- Use plain and accurate language
- Presented in an easily identifiable, understandable, and clearly visible way
- Should not be hidden by other information e.g., banners and pop-up text
- Presented close to the environmental claim being made e.g., on the same side of a tag
- Customers should not have to take further action to access important information, such as following a hyperlink or scanning a QR code
|
| Avoid using unclear terms |
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- Broader, general, or absolute claims can be inaccurate and misleading
- The meaning of the words ‘green’, ‘sustainable’ and ‘eco-friendly’ can be unclear and lead to assumptions of a positive environmental impact
- Ensure claims are accurate, its meaning is clear, and you have supporting evidence
|
| Do not use imagery and icons in a misleading way |
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- Don’t use logos, icons and imagery that gives a misleading impression of the impact on the environment
- Check if the overall impression is misleading, and if more information is needed to explain the imagery e.g., calling a product or service ‘eco-friendly’ and including a leaf symbol without further explanation
|
| Ensure comparisons are clear |
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- When making comparisons, a summary of the basis for comparison made should be set out close to the claim e.g., on the same side of the product tag
- The summary should be clear and prominent
- Make sure the claim is comparing like for like, that what’s being compared is clear to consumers, and that the basis of the comparison is fair and clear
|
| Clearly explain any action a consumer needs to take |
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- If the consumer must take a specific action for the claim to be true, that action must be stated clearly and closely to the claim
- If the claim is online, this information should be located closely and visibly without requiring further actions, such as scanning a QR code
- Supporting information, such as disposal instructions, may be displayed separately e.g., via a drop-down menu in the same location/webpage as the claim, or on the back of the product tag
|
| Be clear when using filters and other navigational tools |
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- Navigational tools such as filters and drop-down menus on a website or app should be presented in a way that does not mislead consumers
- Avoid giving the impression that a group of products, or individual products in the group, are more environmentally friendly than they actually are
- For example, you should not use words such as ‘sustainable’ in your filters, unless supported by verifiable criteria like a green claim verification
- It is better to use specific characteristics, e.g., ‘at least 50% recycled’
|
| Make sure range marketing is not misleading |
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- Businesses selling a range of items grouped according to specific environmental characteristics must ensure criteria for these ranges is clear
- Provide a clear and prominent summary of the criteria. Full criteria must also be available e.g., via a link
- Include any minimum thresholds from the criteria
- The name of the range should not be misleading, or use unclear terms that give the impression such products are better for the environment than they are
- Only products that meet the relevant criteria can be included in the range
|
| Describe fabrics clearly and precisely |
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- Refer to objective properties of fabrics rather than subjective descriptions e.g., ‘organic cotton’ instead of ‘responsible cotton’
- Don’t imply a product is made entirely of a single fabric if it isn’t
- Don’t describe a product as ‘recycled’ or ‘organic’ if it contains fibres which are not (unless the proportion of these fibres is negligible e.g., buttons or threads)
- When describing a product made with fibre of a particular characteristic, clearly specify the % of relevant fibres in the product, and the minimum % of relevant fibres the product must have
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| Don’t mislead consumers when referring to affiliations and accreditations |
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- Only refer to affiliation or accreditation schemes in relation to individual products that meet the criteria or standards verified by these schemes
- A summary of the environmental benefits associated should be provided, with reference to where further details can be found i.e., QR code
- Provide a clear and prominent link to the third party’s or accreditation scheme’s website
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| Make it clear if a claim is based on specific parts of a product’s life cycle |
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- When making a claim based on a specific part of a product’s life cycle, a clear and prominent summary of the part of the life cycle which relates to the claim must be provided
- Access to further information must also be provided close to the claim
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| Ensure environmental targets are presented clearly |
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- Only make environmental claims that are based on or reference corporate targets with clear and verifiable strategies in place to meet those targets
- Provide at least a clear and prominent summary of the nature of the target
- Further information such as what the target aims to achieve, the date it’s expected to be met, and the main ways by which it will be achieved should also be included e.g., via hyperlink or QR code
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Green claim verifications
If you’re interested in green claim verifications for your business, Eurofins have a range of services that can support with third party green claim verification, such as biodegradability, biobased content, vegan verification, and traceability claims. In addition to green claim verifications, Eurofins also offer an extensive array of chemical testing services, which can help with claims around chemical or contaminant content, such as the presence of PFAS or microplastics.
If you would like further information or assistance with green claim verification, please contact us to reach out to a member of our sustainability services team.
