France: criticized adoption of a decree against "greenwashing" in advertising
Advertisements may only display the words "carbon neutral" if they produce a report on the greenhouse gas emissions of the product or service concerned covering its entire life cycle.
Illustrative image.
© Siegfried Forster / RFI
Text by: RFI Follow
3 mins
It will be prohibited from 2023 to tout a product as "
carbon neutral
" in advertising without explaining its carbon footprint and any compensation measures, according to a decree published Thursday, April 14 and targets criticism from NGOs, who consider it little ambitious.
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Businesses and politicians alike are looking to green their image, to match the climate emergency.
This is the case of Emmanuel Macron, whose
record in the fight against global warming
is highly criticized, and who will seduce, in the intervening rounds, voters concerned about ecology, the government published Thursday April 14 in the Official Journal a decree implementing article 12 of the “
Climate and Resilience
” law on “
carbon offsetting and claims of carbon neutrality in advertising
”.
It provides for the prohibition from January 1, 2023 of such statements, in all forms of advertising (print and audiovisual press, posters, web, etc.), if
a greenhouse gas emissions report is not produced greenhouse of the product or service concerned covering its entire life cycle
", i.e. from upstream of its production to its eventual disposal or recycling.
This assessment must be accompanied by “
the approach by which these greenhouse gas emissions are primarily avoided, then reduced and finally compensated
”.
It is published on the advertiser's website, to which a link or QR code must be present on the advertisement or the packaging bearing the mention of carbon neutrality.
The decree must make it possible “
to ensure transparency vis-à-vis the public and to prevent any risk of
”
greenwashing
“, explained the government during its public consultation in January.
Lack of ambition
But NGOs believe for their part that the text does not go far enough, like the consumer defense association CLCV, which denounces its “
lack of ambition
”.
“
Putting a QR code to refer to the site is not enough, you have to explain the (compensation) measures on the same medium and complete the statement by explaining that any product generates greenhouse gases.
Otherwise, it can be misinterpreted by the public who may think that a product has no impact on the climate
”, explains Lisa Faulet, scientific and food manager of the CLCV.
The
Climate and Resilience Law
, adopted by Parliament in July 2021, was intended to translate part
of the proposals of the Citizens' Convention for the Climate (CCC),
which wanted to "
ban on all advertising media products with a strong impact on the environment
”.
►
To read also
: Law "Climate and resilience" in France: insufficient in view of the emergency
This proposal had aroused an outcry in the profession and the measures finally adopted in terms of advertising were considered very insufficient by the CCC itself, during a vote on the translation of its proposals by the government, with a note 2.6 out of 10, the third worst of all.
And even before the entry into force of the law, NGOs have already brought the issue of highlighting carbon neutrality in advertising to court.
At the beginning of March, Greenpeace France, Friends of the Earth France and Notre Affaire à Tous, had thus taken TotalEnergies to court for "
misleading commercial practices
", questioning its stated ambition of carbon neutrality by 2050 and the presentation of gas as the "
cleanest
" fossil fuel
.
(With AFP)
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