The District of Columbia Court of Appeals reversed the dismissal of a deceptive marketing lawsuit against Coca-Cola Company under the D.C. Consumer Protection Procedures Act (CPPA). The plaintiff, Earth Island Institute, alleged that Coca-Cola misled consumers regarding its environmental sustainability with statements that touted the company’s efforts to address packaging waste when the company actually was failing to take necessary steps to meet its sustainability goals. Allegedly misleading statements included that the company was taking a “leadership position” on the “interconnected global challenges of packaging waste and climate change.” As a threshold matter, the court found that Earth Island Institute had standing to bring the CPPA claim. On the merits, the Court of Appeals found that the plaintiff stated a facially plausible misrepresentation and rejected arguments that “aspirational” statements could not be actionable under the CPPA. The Court of Appeals also found that Coca-Cola’s claims regarding plastic packaging were “very much statements about its ‘goods and services’” for purposes of the CPPA. The appellate court also held that misleading misrepresentations did not have to be in a single statement to be actionable under the CPPA. In addition, the court rejected Coca-Cola’s argument that the First Amendment precluded the lawsuit.

Lawsuit alleging that Coca-Cola engaged in false and deceptive marketing by representing itself as a “sustainable and environmentally friendly company" despite being one of the world's largest contributors to plastic pollution.

Earth Island Institute v. Coca-Cola Co.

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D.C. Court of Appeals Reinstated Greenwashing Suit Against Coca-Cola

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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.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

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

A loan is a policy instrument where funds are provided to a borrower with the expectation of repaying the principal plus interest.

A ban is a legal action that prevents the sale or supply of a product or service, or that recalls a product from the market. Examples are bans on SF6, greenwashing, fossil fuel advertisement or single-use plastics.

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

Extreme weather refers to events where a weather variable exceeds (or falls below) a threshold. Meaning it is significantly different from the average or usual weather pattern.

The activities of industries that transforms raw materials into finished goods through industrial processes.

This sector involves managing waste treatment, sanitation, pollution control and environmental cleanup.

This sector involves the wholesale and retail selling of goods.

This sector creates and distributes information and entertainment through television, radio, print, and digital platforms.

This sector involves activities that impart knowledge and skills to individuals, including formal schooling, vocational training and educational support.

Heavy precipitation refers to any form of weather where substances fall from the sky, including rain, snow, sleet, or hail.

D.C. Court of Appeals Reinstated Greenwashing Suit Against Coca-Cola

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Economic sector

Finance