Environmental claims on goods and services

Environmental claims must be truthful and accurate for consumers to make informed choices about what they buy. Your business must live up to the environmental claims you make about products, services, brands and activities.

Claims must contain correct information and must be true. They must not state or imply things that are factually incorrect or untrue. Nor should they overstate or exaggerate the sustainability or positive environmental impact of a product, service, process, brand or business.

If a claim uses terms which have specific or widely assumed meanings, the product, service, process, brand or business should justify their use. Broader, more general or absolute claims are much more likely to be inaccurate and to mislead.

Claims can also be misleading if what they say is factually correct or true, but the impression they give consumers about the environmental impact, cost or benefit of a product, service, process, brand or business is deceptive. This can be a result of the overall presentation of the claim, including the wording, logos and imagery used, as well as anything that is missed out.

The visual presentation of a claim, for example the images, logos, packaging and colours used, are an important part of the overall presentation. The same is true for the labels or certification that are often used to support environmental claims.

You should consider carefully whether the visual symbols used by your business create a misleading effect. There should be a direct and verifiable link between these symbols and the meaning consumers are likely to draw from them.

Checklist for truthful and accurate environmental claims

Before making a claim, you should ask yourself:

• Is the claim true?
• Do I live up to the claims I am making?
• Is the claim only true and accurate under certain conditions or with caveats, and are these clear?
• Is what I say liable to deceive consumers, even if it is literally true or factually correct?
• Am I claiming environmental benefits that are required by law or that consumers would expect from a product or service anyway?
• Am I telling the whole story, or does the claim only relate to one part of my product or business?
• Does my claim give an overall impression that the environmental benefits are greater (or the harms more limited) than is really the case?

You can find examples and more detail on these questions by downloading Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) guidance on environmental claims on goods and services (PDF, 505K).