According to a Sinus survey commissioned by the North Rhine-Westphalia consumer advice center, advertising with climate neutrality misleads the majority of consumers.

Climate neutrality in advertising: The results in brief

  • Only 3 out of 100 respondents know in detail what the term “climate neutral” means.
  • The fact that manufacturers simply offset harmful emissions through CO2 certificates is not enough for consumers.
  • From the perspective of the NRW consumer advice center, climate statements must be regulated more strictly: the focus must be on the consistent avoidance and reduction of CO2 emissions by companies.

Many different names for climate neutrality

“100% CO2-neutral production”, “climate-neutral product” or simply “climate-neutral”: There are more and more products in stores that advertise claims about climate neutrality. This information is not protected by law - in common use, it simply promises that the CO2 emissions over the life cycle of the respective product will be calculated and that reduction certificates from global climate protection projects will be purchased to compensate. However, the majority of consumers are not aware of this. Rather, they expect that products advertised in this way are actually manufactured in a way that is less harmful to the climate. This was the result of a representative survey by the SINUS Institute on behalf of the North Rhine-Westphalia Consumer Center.

“Even particularly environmentally conscious consumers often cannot correctly classify what 'climate neutral' means on products. The misconception that manufacturing companies would commit to reducing CO2 is even more prevalent in this group. Such names therefore mislead consumers. We need reliable labels that meet people’s expectations and leave no room for greenwashing.”

Wolfgang Schuldzinski, board member of the North Rhine-Westphalia Consumer Center

Associations with the term “climate neutral” are diverse

In total, the SINUS Institute surveyed 1,000 consumers between the ages of 18 and 69. Among other things, they were asked to explain in their own words what they think the term “climate-neutral product” means. It became clear that there are very different ideas about this: 42 percent of those surveyed said that climate-neutral products “take climate and/or environmental protection into account” or that they are “environmentally friendly”. 21 percent were of the opinion that it is generally about “environmentally friendly manufacturing”, 18 percent associated climate-neutral products with “less/reduced/no CO2 emissions”.

Another 21 percent said it was about “regionality, short transport routes” or “less plastic and packaging”. Only 13 percent of survey participants explicitly mentioned the principle of CO2 offsetting or compensation. In another round of questions, only 3 percent were able to specify in detail what “climate neutral” statements meant. However, 86 percent were of the opinion that a product should not be labeled “climate-neutral” if it was not manufactured in a climate-friendly manner.

Strong desire for a trustworthy label

“Our results show that the current “climate neutral” claims are misleading for most consumers.”

Wolfgang Schuldzinski, board member of the North Rhine-Westphalia Consumer Center

The North Rhine-Westphalia Consumer Center therefore welcomes the EU initiative to regulate advertising with general environmental statements, but calls for improvements to the current directive proposal.

“In our view, the consistent avoidance and reduction of CO2 emissions by companies must be the focus of future regulation - climate statements that are only based on compensation must be prevented. The survey results are clear at this point: 89 percent of the consumers we surveyed want clear rules for climate-neutral products, 88 percent are of the opinion that for such products there should be a guarantee that the company reduces its own carbon dioxide emissions and not just balances out.”

Wolfgang Schuldzinski, board member of the North Rhine-Westphalia Consumer Center

Further information and links

The North Rhine-Westphalia Consumer Center has published the results as part of the Added Value project . The study on climate neutrality in advertising can be downloaded here. The Federal Association of Consumer Organizations vzbv has published a statement on the EU Commission's proposed directive with regard to strengthening consumers for ecological change.

Source: Consumer advice center NRW

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