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 unambitious.
Both companies and politicians are seeking to green their image, to be connected with the climate emergency. This is the case of Emmanuel Macron, whose the record in the fight against global warming is much criticized, and who to seduce, in thebetween-two-roundsvoters concerned about ecology, the government published Thursday, April 14 in the Official Journal a decree implementing article 12 of the law “ Climate and resilience ” on the ” 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, display, web, etc.), if it is not “ produces a report on the greenhouse gas emissions of the product or service concerned covering its entire life cycle », that is to say from the upstream of its production until its eventual disposal or recycling.
This balance sheet must be accompanied by the approach through which these greenhouse gas emissions are first avoided, then reduced and finally offset “. 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 allow ensure transparency vis-à-vis the public and 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 lawadopted by Parliament in July 2021, was intended to translate part proposals from the Citizens’ Climate Convention (CCC), who wished “ ban on all advertising media products with a strong impact on the environment “.
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This proposal had aroused an outcry in the profession and the measures finally adopted in terms of advertising were deemed 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 taken TotalEnergies to court for “ misleading business practices “, calling into question its stated ambition of carbon neutrality by 2050 and the presentation of gas as fossil energy” the cleanest “.
(With AFP)