Zeroing in on greenwashing: How corporations misuse net zero pledges
Major corporations are making disingenuous ‘net zero’ and ‘carbon neutral’ claims based on dubious emissions offsetting practices rather than actual cuts. This cannot continue.
Major corporations are making disingenuous ‘net zero’ and ‘carbon neutral’ claims based on dubious emissions offsetting practices rather than actual cuts. This cannot continue.
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 …
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.
La présente plainte porte sur la publicité de « neutralité carbone », par la FIFA, de la Coupe du Monde de Football 2022 au Qatar. Nous jugeons que cette communication par la FIFA constitue une publicité envers le public, qu’elle est trompeuse et fausse, et qu’elle enfreint les règles et codes du Jury d’Ethique Publicitaire …
Executive summary The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar is being advertised as a “carbon neutral” event. This means that its net impact on the climate is zero or negligible. However, our investigation of the available evidence casts serious doubts on this claim, which likely underestimates the tournament’s true emissions levels and climate impact. This …
Read more “Poor tackling: Yellow card for 2022 FIFA World Cup’s carbon neutrality claim – Updated”
A study commissioned by Carbon Market Watch and conducted by the Öko-Institut analysed the action or investments that eight major European airlines were taking outside their value chains. These include activities that supposedly avoid or reduce greenhouse gas emissions and those that remove and store greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. The eight selected airlines are …
Read more “Flights of Fancy: Preventing European airlines from making far-fetched climate claims”
The FIFA World Cup in Qatar advertises itself as the first carbon-neutral tournament of its kind. Our latest research casts serious doubt on this claim, suggesting that this goal will be achieved through creative accounting rather than actually reaching a carbon footprint of (net) zero. Host country Qatar and football’s governing body FIFA are touting …