Published 2 February 2023 at 15.33
Consumer. The Patent and Market Court prohibits Arla from using the expression “net zero climate footprint” and similar claims in the marketing of dairy products.
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The Patent and Market Court, just like the Consumer Ombudsman, believes that the company's advertising misleadingly gives the impression that the product does not give rise to any “climate footprint” at all.
Or that the consumer gets the impression that the company fully offset the “climate impact” caused by the product, even though it has not been proven to be true.
The court does not believe that consumers understand that the company's promise of net zero is based on “climate compensating activities” that only in 100 years could compensate for the “climate footprint” that milk production gives rise to.
The sentence is associated with a fine of SEK 1 million. A fine is prospective and can be imposed if the company violates the ban in the future. The company has already voluntarily stopped the net zero advertising.
Arla's “Net zero climate footprint” was named Food Scam of the Year 2021 by the consumer association Äkta vara.