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Regional Court of Oldenburg’s decision on climate neutral claims regarding meat products - judgment

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This case was filed in December 2020. The advertised claims at issue concerned distributed meat products as well as the defendant’s operations which were advertised as climate neutral in an online newspaper. The Regional Court of Oldenburg held that the advertising on climate neutral meat products and climate neutral operations were misleading by omission pursuant to §5a para. 2 of the Act against Unfair Competition.

On December 2021, Regional Court reiterated the strict standard applicable to environment-related advertising claims and concluded that the advertising did not fulfil these requirements. According to the Regional Court, the consumers understood ‘climate neutral’ in relation to the meat products either in the sense that CO2 emissions during the production or distribution were offset through climate projects or that CO2 had not been emitted (for instance, by using renewable energies or CO2 filters), or had been emitted in an insignificant manner. Thus, the Regional Court stated that there did not exist a clear consumer understanding of the statement ‘climate neutral’. 

The Regional Court further held that the advertising would have needed to include a clarifying statement that ‘climate neutrality’ was understood in the sense of compensation and that climate neutrality was achieved through financial support of climate protection projects. While the defendant had listed a URL on the advertising site where the reader could learn more about the manner of achieving climate-neutrality, the claim ‘climate neutral’ had been made in the advertising without any mention of compensation, and thus, the consumer had not been able to make an informed business decision. Therefore, the Court found that the advertising breached § 5a para. 2 of the Act against Unfair Competition.

Regional Court of Oldenburg’s decision on climate neutral claims regarding meat products

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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

A long-lived, colourless gas, chiefly emitted from fossil fuel combustion, deforestation and cement production.

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

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

The release of heat-trapping gases, primarily from human activities such as burning fossil fuels, agriculture and industry.

Fossil gas, commonly known as natural gas, is a fossil fuel consisting chiefly of methane with smaller amounts of other hydrocarbons and trace gases, found in underground deposits.

Regional Court of Oldenburg’s decision on climate neutral claims regarding meat products - judgment

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Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

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Finance