Permissible environmental advertising or greenwashing: What is still allowed?

Recently, an increasing number of court decisions have dealt with claims such as "CO2-reduced" or "climate-neutral" or "environmentally neutral". They set out specific requirements under which such claims may be used in advertising. But what exactly is the problem here?

Natural disasters such as the flood disaster in the Ahr Valley in 2021 or the record-breaking summer of 2022, as well as campaigns such as Fridays for Future or climate activists, are making consumers increasingly aware of the issue of sustainability. And although crises such as the war in Ukraine or the conflict in the Middle East are making life more and more expensive for consumers, they are increasingly turning to more sustainable products. In turn, companies have also realized this and are increasingly focusing on the aspect of sustainability in their advertising. For example, by making claims such as "climate neutral" or "CO2 reduced" or "environmentally neutral". But not everything that appears to be sustainable at first glance actually is.

Lawyer Dr. Ruhl and lawyer Dr. Isele will talk about this on 28.02.2024 at the IHK Frankfurt am Main in an online seminar entitled "Permissible environmental advertising or greenwashing: What is still allowed?"