KlimaAllianz v. FIFA

In a concerted action with similar actions filed in the UK, France, Belgium and the Netherlands, Klima-Allianz, a Swiss-based coalition of 140 civil society organisations, filed a claim against FIFA claiming that FIFA’s advertising of the 2022 Football World Cup in Qatar as carbon neutral was misleading athletes, football fans and the 5 billion people expected to follow the event (which was held from November 20, 2022 until December 18, 2022 as the first ‘winter’ world cup ever). Counsel for the case are Avocat.e.s pour le climat. The Fair Advertising Commission is a non-judicial body that examines complaints alleging violations of the Swiss Fairness Principles in Commercial Communication. In June 2023, the Fair Advertising Commission upheld all five complaints (which were joined into one proceeding). After thorough review of the subject matter, the Commission recommended that FIFA refrain from making unsubstantiated claims in the future, particularly the claim that the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar was climate or carbon-neutral. In substance, the Commission reiterated that strict standards apply when advertising carbon neutrality and that factual claims must be accurate and not misleading, which extends to environmental claims. For that matter, the Commission deferred to the International Chamber of Commerce’s Marketing and Advertising Code (Chapter D: Environmental Claims in Marketing Communications).