Get your green claims right
Learn more about how your business can make accurate green claims
Many businesses are already doing the right thing by being upfront about how green a product really is. But that’s not always the case. A recent international analysis of websites found that 40% of green claims made online could be misleading.
That’s why we’ve created the Green Claims Code, to help you ensure your green claims are genuine and not misleading. Not only will it help you protect your business’ reputation with its customers, but it will also help you to stay on the right side of the law.
Green claims must:
1. Be truthful and accurate: Businesses must live up to the claims they make about their products, services, brands and activities
2. Be clear and unambiguous: The meaning that a consumer is likely to take from a product’s messaging and the credentials of that product should match
3. Not omit or hide important information: Claims must not prevent someone from making an informed choice because of the information they leave out
4. Only make fair and meaningful comparisons: Any products compared should meet the same needs or be intended for the same purpose
5. Consider the full life cycle of the product: When making claims, businesses must consider the total impact of a product or service. Claims can be misleading where they don’t reflect the overall impact or where they focus on one aspect of it but not another
6. Be substantiated: Businesses should be able to back up their claims with robust, credible and up to date evidence
Need more detail?
Our full guidance contains examples for each of the green claims code principles in action.