The Competition and Markets Authority has produced its Green Claims Code to help businesses understand how to communicate their green credentials while reducing the risk of misleading consumers. The Code focuses on 6 principles that are based on existing consumer law, these are:

  • claims must be truthful and accurate
  • claims must be clear and unambiguous
  • claims must not omit or hide important relevant information
  • comparisons must be fair and meaningful
  • claims must consider the full life cycle of the product or service
  • claims must be substantiated

These bear similarity to our sector’s Code for Construction Product Information which emphasizes the need for clear and robust statements about the performance and impact of a product.  This applies to green claims just as much as to other performance claims.  This is an area we may need to visit in more depth to ensure green claims in our sector are robust.   If you are making a claim about the environmental impact of a product then it should be on the basis of the standard EN 15804 to produce an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD).  This considers impact through the whole lifecycle of a product.