Consumer Rights and Safe Products and Services

Net Zero Transition Plans: Red Flag Indicators to Assess Inconsistencies and Greenwashing

This report from WWF and others can help you assess the integrity and consistency of net-zero transition plans. It begins by defining greenwashing and how it relates to transition plan credibility, which is a prerequisite for effective capital allocation and climate risk management. It then proposes a framework for assessing transition plan credibility based on a study of 28 transition frameworks. The outcome of this study is a red flag indicator framework that can be used to assess the ambition, credibility, and feasibility of transition plans and prevent greenwashing.

Although the proposed framework was designed for investors, it will also be useful to strategy, sustainability, and finance teams working to develop or improve climate transition plans for their organisation.

On the rise: navigating the wave of greenwashing and social washing

Misleading communication around environmental and social topics is on the rise, harming progress on sustainability globally and eroding both investor and consumer trust. This article from RepRisk can help you understand recent trends related to greenwashing and social washing. It explains the regulatory response to misleading sustainability-related communications, trends in greenwashing risk exposure, and recent (and growing) attention to social washing risk. The guide will be most useful to sustainability professionals responsible for disclosure, as well as communications, marketing, and enterprise risk teams.

“Net Zero Greenwash”: The Gap Between Corporate Commitments and their Policy Engagement

This study by InfluenceMap can help you understand the risk of greenwashing your climate commitments through misaligned policy engagement. The key findings highlight the prevalence of greenwashing through both companies’ own engagement and that of their industry associations. They show that more than half of companies with climate commitments have been unsupportive of climate policy in at least some cases, and that many companies are actively undermining their commitments by lobbying against climate action. A set of brief examples from ten companies further demonstrates this discrepancy. These insights will be most useful to sustainability, policy advocacy, and communications professionals.

The Greenwashing Hydra

This report from Planet Tracker can help you understand and identify the nuances of greenwashing. It explains the problem of greenwashing, identifies six different types of greenwashing, and provides an overview of the global regulatory crackdown on greenwashing. The report may be of particular value to sales, marketing, and procurement professionals.

A Guide to Product Safety Standards

This short article can help you to quickly build a better understanding of product safety standards from around the world. It explains the key benefits of adhering to these standards, as well as notable product safety standards and regulations from the United States, Australia, United Kingdom, European Union, and more.

Designing safe and sustainable products requires a new approach for chemicals

This briefing from the European Environment Agency can help you to ensure that chemical products are produced in a way that maximises their contributions to society while avoiding harm to nature and peoples. To achieve this, it provides a four-step process for factoring sustainability dimensions into the design phase of chemical products.

OECD Recommendation of the Council on Consumer Product Safety

These recommendation on consumer product safety - adopted by the OECD Council in 2020 - outline the key elements that should be at the core of consumer product safety frameworks at domestic and international levels. They promote a consistent approach to product safety rules across jurisdictions in order to increase certainty and efficiency for all stakeholders. The recommendation calls for the establishment of robust consumer product safety regulatory and policy frameworks that provide for a consumer right to safe products and rapid alerts when unsafe products are on the market or are the subject of a ban or a recall; are informed by sound evidence and data sources; and pay specific attention to vulnerable consumers.

How to Write a Retail Return and Exchange Policy (+ Free Template)

This short article from ReverseLogix can help you to draft a return and exchange policy. It explains the importance of a carefully crafted policy to the success of the return process; highlights seven key elements to consider; and provides a simple template to help you get started.

Advertising Standards

The Responsible Advertising and Children (RAC) programme was established to bring together brand owners, agencies, and the media at a global level to anticipate and understand societal and parental aspirations regarding responsible marketing communications and children. This short primer can help you to understand advertising self-regulation and the benefits it provides.

Our Right to Repair

This article from Leyla Acaroglu can help you to understand why repair is a right, why our current linear economy - including both the actors within it and the design principles that underpin it - is structured to oppose the right to repair, and how this contributes to inequity. It highlights some of the tactics that companies use to prevent (or disincentivise) repairs and upgrades, and makes a compelling case for why repair should be mainstream and accessible. It also examines key trends and developments related to the Right to Repair Movement.

Inclusive design: why it’s more than just a quick makeover

This short article from IMD can help you to understand the benefits of embracing the principles of inclusive design, and it provides a simple step-by-step approach (featuring approachable and practical frameworks) for better ensuring that your products and services meet the needs of all consumers.