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.

Environmental claims and the Competition Act

Canada’s Competition Bureau has released guidelines to help you ensure compliance with the Competition Act when making claims about the environmental benefits or attributes of products or businesses. The guide identifies provisions that are most relevant to environmental claims, and provides principles to help businesses assess whether their environmental claims are in line with the requirements of the Act.

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.

Greenwashing Assessment Framework

This tool from the Climate Social Science Network features indicator questions, notes, and examples that can help you to determine if your organisation (or another) is engaging in greenwashing. The tool supports enhanced scrutiny of statements claiming positive social and environmental impact; claims related to organisational practices and their alignment with stated intentions or values; and communications that are poorly defined or excessively broad and could be misunderstood. This resource is a good preliminary screening tool, and will benefit sustainability, legal, and communications professionals, as well as senior leaders.

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.

The ICC Advertising and Marketing Communications Code

The International Chamber of Commerce's (ICC) Advertising and Marketing Communications Code is the international go-to guide for responsible marketing and advertising, and it can help you to build consumer trust with marketing that is legal, decent, honest and truthful, and relevant against global and industry developments. Used as a benchmark for almost fifty self-regulatory codes in countries around the world, it provides a comprehensive range of general provisions on advertising and marketing communications, as well as detailed chapters on sales promotion, sponsorship, environmental claims, and more.