{"id":14697,"date":"2023-12-12T11:37:38","date_gmt":"2023-12-12T11:37:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/?p=14697"},"modified":"2023-12-12T11:37:39","modified_gmt":"2023-12-12T11:37:39","slug":"uk-regulator-launches-investigation-into-unilever-over-green-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/uk-regulator-launches-investigation-into-unilever-over-green-claims\/","title":{"rendered":"UK Regulator Launches Investigation into Unilever over Green Claims"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n

The UK\u2019s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced today that it has formally launched an investigation into Unilever, examining the global consumer brand giant\u2019s green claims, after an initial review revealed \u201ca range of concerning practices\u201d that the company may be overstating the environmental attributes of some its products. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement today from a Unilever spokesperson, the company said that it was \u201csurprised and disappointed\u201d by the announcement, and added that it refuted that the company\u2019s claims \u201care in any way misleading.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CMA said that its investigation forms part of its broader greenwashing investigation into whether consumers are being misled by the sustainability claims in the marketing of products and services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this year, the regulator announced that it would begin examining the green claims made by companies marketing items including food, drink and homecare products, following preliminary work that CMA Chief Executive Sarah Cardell said had indicated that \u201cthere could be greenwashing going on\u201d in the sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following its initial review of companies in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector, which the CMA said \u201cuncovered a range of concerning practices,\u201d the regulator announced that it would begin an investigation into Unilever, with concerns including the use of \u201cvague and broad\u201d language that could mislead shoppers about the environmental impact of certain products, claims about ingredients that could exaggerate how \u201cnatural\u201d the product is, claims about a single aspect of a product that may suggest that the product as a whole is environmentally friendly, and claims about product recyclability that fail to specify if they relate to the whole product, or just part, or the packaging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The regulator also said that the \u201ccolours and imagery\u201d used by Unilever \u201cmay create the overall impression that some products are more environmentally friendly than they actually are.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cardell said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cSo far, the evidence we\u2019ve seen has raised concerns about how Unilever presents certain products as environmentally friendly. We\u2019ll be drilling down into these claims to see if they measure up. If we find they\u2019re greenwashing, we\u2019ll take action to make sure shoppers are protected.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In the company\u2019s statement, the Unilever spokesperson said that the company will cooperate with the CMA in its probe. The statement added:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cUnilever is committed to making responsible claims about the benefits of our products on our packs and to these being transparent and clear, and we have robust processes in place to make sure any claims can be substantiated.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Since announcing its review of the FMCG sector, the CMA said that it has seen signs of improvement in the sector, including suppliers changing and removing some green claims. Noting that it has \u201cidentified a range of concerns,\u201d however, the regulator said that \u201cnew investigations may follow.\u201d<\/p><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The UK\u2019s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced today that it has formally launched an investigation into Unilever, examining the global consumer brand giant\u2019s green claims, after an initial review revealed \u201ca range of concerning practices\u201d that the company may be overstating the environmental attributes of some its products.  In a statement today from a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14698,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,17],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUK Regulator Launches Investigation into Unilever over Green Claims - ESG Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/uk-regulator-launches-investigation-into-unilever-over-green-claims\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UK Regulator Launches Investigation into Unilever over Green Claims - ESG Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The UK\u2019s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced today that it has formally launched an investigation into Unilever, examining the global consumer brand giant\u2019s green claims, after an initial review revealed \u201ca range of concerning practices\u201d that the company may be overstating the environmental attributes of some its products.  In a statement today from a […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/uk-regulator-launches-investigation-into-unilever-over-green-claims\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ESG Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ESGToday\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-12T11:37:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-12-12T11:37:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/UK-CMA.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"996\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"604\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark Segal\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EsgToday\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@EsgToday\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark Segal\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/uk-regulator-launches-investigation-into-unilever-over-green-claims\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/uk-regulator-launches-investigation-into-unilever-over-green-claims\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Mark Segal\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#\/schema\/person\/cca7a2b05e3a06d096e5740fb1433a01\"},\"headline\":\"UK Regulator Launches Investigation into Unilever over Green Claims\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-12T11:37:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-12T11:37:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/uk-regulator-launches-investigation-into-unilever-over-green-claims\/\"},\"wordCount\":468,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Companies\",\"Regulators\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/uk-regulator-launches-investigation-into-unilever-over-green-claims\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/uk-regulator-launches-investigation-into-unilever-over-green-claims\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/uk-regulator-launches-investigation-into-unilever-over-green-claims\/\",\"name\":\"UK Regulator Launches Investigation into Unilever over Green Claims - 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