ARTICLE · 29 AUGUST 2023

Greenwashing – ACCC guidance to making environmental and sustainability claims

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Greenwashing refers to environmental and sustainability claims which are false, misleading, or have no reasonable basis.

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The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) recently published draft guidance on what businesses should do when making environmental and sustainability claims to comply with the Australian Consumer Law (ACL). The guidance follows the ACCC's recent greenwashing internet sweep where 57% of businesses reviewed were potentially making misleading environmental claims.

Greenwashing refers to environmental and sustainability claims which are "false, misleading, or have no reasonable basis."¹By doing so, businesses may be in contravention of the ACL such as:

Section 18 - Misleading or Deceptive Conduct
Section 29 - False or misleading representations about goods or services

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