The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) – a UK government regulatory body – is cracking down on environmental and sustainability claims, warning that businesses have until the new year to ensure their claims comply with the law.
After discovering that 40% of ‘green’ claims could be misleading consumers, CMA has this week released the Green Claims Code: a new anti-greenwash guide for all brands making environ-mental claims.
The UK is currently under scrutiny from the global community on how it plans to tackle its role in the climate crisis. Ahead of Cop26, the launch of the code marks a clear message from the CMA that it intends to do its part in addressing greenwashing and misleading environmental claims by brands, allowing consumers to make more educated choices on how their purchases impact the planet.
Get your green claims right
Published on 20 September 2021, the CMA’s Green Claims Code enables businesses to check their environmental claims are genuinely green. Begin by stress-testing your published marketing communications against the comprehensive recommendations that fall into six key principles:
- Claims must be truthful and accurate
- Claims must be clear and unambiguous
- Claims must not omit or hide important information
- Claims must only make fair and meaningful comparisons
- Claims must consider the full life cycle of the product
- Claims must be substantiated
Legislation driving a green economy
Being recognised as a green organisation can boost sales, improve brand awareness and build customer loyalty. But legislation is also putting increasing emphasis on businesses to be more sustainable, with costs rising for those that fail to prepare for the changes ahead. Extended Producer Responsibility and Plastic Packaging Tax are just two new changes to regulations around packaging that are set to be introduced in the coming years.
