Swisscom, Coca-Cola and others accused of greenwashing

The consumer protection group wants tougher Swiss legislation on climate neutrality claims. © Keystone / Gaetan Bally

Swiss Consumer Protection Foundation SKS has filed complaints against Swisscom, Coca-Cola Switzerland and six other Swiss companies which it says are practising illegal greenwashing.

The organisation considers these companies’ advertising claims about climate neutrality misleading and has filed complaints to the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) on grounds that they violate Swiss competition law.

“Consumers are being duped,” said SKS director Sara Stalder in a statement on Friday.

As well as Swisscom and Coca-Cola Switzerland, the complaints also target Zurich Zoo, car rental company Avis, the Elite travel agency, heating oil distributor Kübler Heizöl and Agent Selly, a company selling real estate. 

More and more products and services are being advertised with green slogans, says the consumer protection organisation. For example, mobile phone subscriptions are described as “climate neutral” and heating oil as “CO2 neutral”.

“In fact, an analysis by SKS of several examples shows that many advertising claims are exaggerated or even unfounded,” it says. “They are neither explained in more detail nor substantiated.”

According to the Foundation, the companies’ claims are not fully verifiable because the data on CO2 emissions is lacking or incomplete. As for the numerous offsetting projects cited by the targeted companies, SKS says they have virtually no effect on the actual concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere.

When questioned by the Zurich daily Tagesanzeiger, some of the companies involved acknowledged in part that the climate neutrality concept was open to question. Others maintained firmly that they considered themselves to be climate neutral, or even “climate positive”.

SKS is also calling for Switzerland to tighten the law on greenwashing, along the lines of several neighbouring countries. “There is no reason why Swiss consumers should be less well-protected than European consumers against misleading environmental promises,” said Stalder.