Green claims in UK advertising: what you can actually say

Environmental claims are now policed by two regulators at once — the ASA under the advertising codes, and the CMA under consumer law, which since 2025 can fine businesses directly (up to 10% of global turnover) for misleading practices without going to court first. Greenwashing went from reputational risk to balance-sheet risk.

The core principle. A green claim must be true, clear, evidenced, and not hide the bad news. The whole life cycle matters: a product can't be "planet-friendly" on the strength of recyclable packaging if the product inside is environmentally costly, and a company can't badge itself "green" off one initiative while its core business points the other way.

The phrases that attract fire.

Unqualified general claims — "eco-friendly", "environmentally friendly", "kind to the planet", "green". Broad claims demand broad proof; almost nothing clears that bar unqualified. The fix is specificity: "bottle made from 80% recycled plastic" is checkable, useful, and safe in a way "eco-friendly" never is.

"Carbon neutral" and "net zero." Heavily scrutinised, especially where the claim leans on offsetting. If neutrality depends on offsets, that basis needs to be transparent — and offset-based neutrality claims have repeatedly failed when presented as if the underlying emissions didn't exist. Several major advertisers have quietly retired these phrases entirely.

Disposal claims — "recyclable", "biodegradable", "compostable". These mislead when true only in industrial facilities most consumers can't access, or only for part of the product. Qualify: which component, under what conditions, how available those conditions actually are.

Selective truths — promoting one green attribute while omitting something a consumer would consider material. Absence of information can mislead as effectively as a false statement.

Build the file before the campaign. The pattern in enforcement is consistent: businesses get into trouble not because they had no evidence, but because the evidence was assembled after the challenge. Before launch: write the claim as a consumer will read it, gather the substantiation for that reading, check the life-cycle and omission angles, then qualify the wording until claim and evidence match exactly.