The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has released a set of new, stricter guidance for businesses making environmental claims in their advertising, including a revamped focus on Net Zero and carbon neutral claims.

Back in October 2022, the regulator identified that ‘confusing’ environmental claims were damaging brand reputations. It said that consumers felt deceived when they discovered the role of carbon offsetting in brands’ net zero strategies and carbon neutral claims.

This triggered a six month review as to how those claims were being substantiated. The ASA, on June 23, ruled that offsetting information must be included in claims, with specific reference to the supplier that has been used.

The ruling was made alongside numerous updates, including the matter of where businesses are responsible for significant emissions or other environmental harm, adverts referencing environmentally beneficial initiatives must include balancing information about the business’ significant ongoing contribution to emissions or other harm.

Meanwhile, absolute environmental claims – such as ‘sustainable’ or ‘environmentally-friendly’ – must be supported by a high level of substantiation. This means only action, not aspiration, will be acceptable. Initiatives suggesting results that are intended to be delivered in the future are therefore unlikely to be accepted.

The big one, however, is on the topic of carbon neutral and net zero claims being made in advertising. Net Zero, carbon neutral, and offsetting must all be clarified. Ads which focus on specific initiatives as a way of achieving net zero must contextualise those claims with information about the role the initiative would play in that net zero plan, and how and when net zero emissions will be achieved.

Therefore, net zero and carbon neutral claims cannot be unsubstantiated. Marketers must include accurate information about the degree to which they are actively reducing emissions, and how much of the claim is based on offsetting.

Information on the scheme being used to offset must also be declared.

Under the updates, the ASA has decided that the full lifecycle of a product cannot be ignored. Marketers must base environmental claims on the full life cycle of the advertised product, unless the marketing communication states otherwise, and must make clear the limits of the lifecycle.

Therefore, absolute claims like ‘environmentally friendly’ must only be made if the advertiser can demonstrate that the product or service has no detrimental effect on the environment, taking into account its entire lifecycle.

These claims can also not be left open to interpretation. Where there may be multiple possible interpretations, additional information must be provided to make the meaning clear.

The CAP (non-broadcasting advertising code) and BCAP (broadcasting advertising code) explain that it has sanctioned these stricter guidelines in acknowledgement of the importance of advertising in facilitating the transition to more sustainable consumer behaviour and business practice.

While the guidance does not actually prevent marketers from making environmental claims about their products or services, it does identify factors that make such claims more likely or less likely to comply with the codes.

This means brands would not face legal or financial penalisation unlike in other markets, such as the EU, but will likely suffer a social damage if found to be non-compliant.