Making environmental claims about goods and services
Complying with consumer law when making green claims about goods, services or digital content.
Businesses make ‘environmental claims’ (also known as ‘green claims’ or ‘eco claims’) when they suggest that a product, service, process or brand, or a particular aspect of it:
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is good for the environment
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has no impact on the environment
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is less damaging to the environment than a previous version of the same thing
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is less damaging to the environment than other goods or services
Making an environmental claim includes what businesses say and how they present it. What they don’t say is also relevant to this. Consumer protection law does not prevent businesses from making environmental claims about their goods and services, provided they do not mislead consumers. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) wants to support businesses to get it right and comply with consumer protection law when making environmental claims. If they get it right, that’s good for consumers, fair dealing businesses and the wider economy.
If you work for a business, you must make sure you are clear and accurate when making environmental claims. You must not hide information to make people think your goods or services are less harmful to or better for the environment than they really are.
Guidance
Everyone in the supply chain should be clear and accurate when making environmental claims. The CMA has produced the guidance materials available on this page to help different types of businesses stay on the right side of consumer protection law when making environmental claims, aimed at:
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retailers
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brands selling directly to consumers or through third party retailers
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suppliers and manufacturers
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wholesalers and distributors
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organisations who produce codes of practice (such as trade associations)
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organisations who develop certification schemes
If you work with another business on environmental sustainability initiatives, you need to comply with competition law. Read our simple summary about green agreements, and how to get informal advice from the CMA.
Green Claims Code: making environmental claims
The Green Claims Code helps businesses understand and meet their obligations under consumer protection law when making environmental claims. Our Green Claims Code campaign website includes quizzes and illustrative examples to help you understand labelling and product descriptions.
Making Green Claims: Getting it right, across the supply chain
A short explainer to the CMA’s Green Claims Code, covering what businesses need to know about responsibility for making environmental claims across supply chains.
Fashion retail
How to comply with consumer protection law when making green claims about fashion products.
Green heating and insulation
How to comply with consumer protection law when marketing and advertising green heating and insulation products (such as heat pumps, solar panels, biomass boilers and home insulation).
Consumer protection investigations
Further details on the CMA’s investigations into green claims are available on the following webpages.
Updates to this page
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Making green claims, across the supply chain explainer, added to collection page.
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First published.