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In 2024, NGO Deutsche Umwelthilfe filed a complaint with the Nuremberg-Fürth Regional Court against Adidas and its statement that it would be “climate neutral by 2050”. The plaintiff alleges that the company’s climate-related advertising constituted a misleading commercial practice under the Act Against Unfair Competition. 

The plaintiff contends that Adidas failed to disclose whether the target would be achieved through direct emissions reductions or carbon offsets. The plaintiff alleges that this ambiguity misleads consumers, as the Act Against Unfair Competition prohibits deceptive and unsubstantiated advertising. 

In April of 2025, the Court ruled in favor of Deutsche Umwelthilfe, concluding that Adidas's advertising claim was unlawful under the Act Against Unfair Competition. The Court emphasized that climate-related advertising statements must be substantiated and clearly communicated.


Deutsche Umwelthilfe v. Adidas

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives