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.
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. …
The Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor evaluates the transparency and integrity of companies’ climate pledges.
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.
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 Regulators are starting to revise outdated provisions, while NGOs are suing companies over misleading advertisements.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 …
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 …
Read more “Greenwashing exposes climate of corporate inaction”
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 …
Read more “March newsletter editorial: The Ukraine tragedy and the heavy price of war”
Corporations are exaggerating their climate action, according to our recent report. But what are the next steps for those companies who truly want to reduce their impact on the climate? And how can governments stop false or misleading pledges sneaking into advertising? The Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor, a joint report from Carbon Market Watch and …
Read more “Hollow corporate promises: How to stop false climate claims”
In an assessment of 25 major global corporations’ climate claims, produced by NewClimate Institute in collaboration with Carbon Market Watch, it was found that nearly all of them rely on some form of loophole or trick to significantly exaggerate the ambition of their climate targets and actions. The EU, and its member states, should improve …
Read more “Regulating corporate green claims and greenwashing – policy recommendations”
The Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor evaluates the transparency and integrity of companies’ climate pledges. Companies around the world are increasingly alert to the climate emergency. They face calls from a growing range of stakeholders to take responsibility for the impact of their activities. Most large companies now have public climate strategies and targets, many of …
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