Wettbewerbszentrale v. Aldi Süd (‘First climate-neutral food retailer’)

The Regional Court of Duisburg (Landgericht Duisburg) found Aldi Süd’s advertising claim that it had been the “first climate-neutral food retailer in Germany since 2017” misleading and contrary to German unfair competition law. The action was brought by the Centre for Combating Unfair Competition (Wettbewerbszentrale).

The court considered the claim misleading because the advertisement did not sufficiently disclose that Aldi Süd’s claimed climate neutrality was based on the purchase of carbon-offset certificates through ClimatePartner, rather than solely or primarily on reductions of the company’s own greenhouse-gas emissions.

The court held that a QR code or web link directing consumers to further information about the compensation mechanism was insufficient to correct the misleading impression created by the climate-neutrality claim. Given the particular importance consumers attach to environmental characteristics, the advertising needed to make the basis of the claim sufficiently clear in the advertisement itself.