Carbon camouflaging: How corporations are misusing carbon removals to mask their climate inaction

Carbon removals are not meant as a tool for corporate greenwashing or climate inaction. They should only be used to reduce the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The 2023 edition of the Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor (CCRM) ​assesses the transparency and quality of the climate strategies of 24 major global corporations. Only one …

Not zero: New report exposes greenwashing in climate plans of top global corporations

Despite claiming to be champions of climate action, two dozen of the world’s largest and richest corporations are hiding their climate inaction behind the fig leaf of green-sounding ‘net zero’ plans, concludes the 2023 edition of the Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor. For that reason, governments must stop their dithering and regulate robustly what green claims companies are permitted to make.

Open letter to the EU: Protect consumers against unfair commercial practices and greenwashing

As the climate crisis intensifies, EU legislators are working on updating the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD) and the Consumer Rights Directive (CRD) to better protect consumers against common greenwashing practices and equip them for a green economy. However, the current  proposal – “Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition” – will not effectively end greenwashing. …

Combating corporate greenwashing through regulation

Regulators must act to protect people from false corporate green claims and to ensure that only true climate leaders are able to claim that mantle. If this is not appropriately addressed, people will continue to be misled by false climate claims and they will effectively be denied the opportunity to decarbonise their consumption and/or investment and play their part in limiting global warming to 1.5°C. Thus, it is imperative that policymakers, both at the EU and global levels, urgently act to remedy this pervasive problem of greenwashing.

This document sets out a series of recommendations to combat corporate greenwashing.

EU works to beef up regulations on green claims while NGOs take to the courts to combat greenwashing

The proliferation of dubious green claims by companies has sparked renewed concern about the lack of adequate regulation to prevent greenwashing and the low compliance with existing rules. Regulators are starting to revise outdated provisions, while NGOs are suing companies over misleading advertisements. The European Commission published yesterday (30 March 2022) a new proposal to …

Greenwashing exposes climate of corporate inaction

Instead of cleaning up their businesses and business models to tackle climate change, top corporations are engaging in cosmetic change and greenwashing to improve their image. Why is this? Climate action is in the air. Like governments around the world, major corporations are falling over themselves to issue climate pledges and, in keeping with being …

March newsletter editorial: The Ukraine tragedy and the heavy price of war

The horror playing out in Ukraine disturbs and distresses the Carbon Market Watch team. We have discussed it amongst ourselves. We have expressed our solidarity with those who are affected. We share their anger at the Russian regime’s unwarranted aggression, senseless bloodshed and escalating destruction. We have joined Ukrainian activists in asking for the international …