EU Commission proposes to improve consumer and environmental protection through stricter regulations on “greenwashing”

As consumers are becoming more environmentally aware, there has been a growing trend in recent years to advertise products with environmental claims. For many consumers, whether a product is “green”, “eco-friendly”, “energy efficient”, “carbon neutral” or “climate neutral”, is a decisive factor underlying their purchasing decision, and they will prefer products which (allegedly) have these characteristics as opposed to products that do not. Against this background it is not surprising that such “green” marketing is sometimes also deceptively used to persuade the public that a company’s products, aims, and policies are environmentally friendly.