Lawyers for Climate Action NZ complaint against Mazda New Zealand

Lawyers for Climate Action NZ alongside climate specialist Paul Young filed a complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority alleging that Mazda New Zealand is misleading consumers about the environmental effectiveness of its tree-planting programme. The complaint focused on Mazda’s website advertising that stated that it funds the planting of five trees for each new car sold, and claims that “Over each vehicle's 5-year warranty term, these 5 trees will [..] mitigate any environmental impact from CO2 emissions…” which they state grossly overstates the actual impact of planting those trees. The Complaints Board Chair accepted the complaint to go before the Complaints Board to consider whether the Advertising Standards Code had been breached. As part of the self-regulatory process, advertisers have the option of amending or removing their advertising after receiving a complaint. In this case the Advertiser confirmed they had removed the advertisement. As the advertisement has been removed, the Chair has ruled the complaint as settled on March 12, 2026.