A registered association for the promotion of commercial interests, specifically dedicated to combating unfair competition, brought an action against a beverage trading company under the brand name "WUNDERBRAEU" in the Regional Court of Munich I (Landgericht München I). The Plaintiff challenged the Defendant’s advertising of beer as “CO₂-positive” and “climate neutral.”

The Regional Court upheld the claim, finding the advertising misleading and unlawful. The court found that the product packaging did not provide consumers with sufficiently clear information about the basis of those claims.

The court held that environmental claims of this nature require immediate and sufficiently prominent clarification on the product itself. A QR code directing consumers to an external website, where they could find information about the measures underlying the claimed climate neutrality or positive carbon balance, was insufficient. Given the strong influence of environmental claims on consumer purchasing decisions and the scientific complexity of concepts such as “climate neutral” and “CO₂-positive,” consumers must not be left to investigate or infer how the claimed environmental balance is achieved.

The court also found the company’s presentation of the beer’s origin misleading. The use of the brand name “Wunderbraeu” together with a Munich address created the impression that the beer was brewed locally in Munich, although it was actually produced elsewhere.

Wettbewerbszentrale v. Wunderbräu (Advertising beer as ‘CO2 positive’/’climate-neutral production’)

<p>This entry was provided by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. Please see the terms of use for citation and licensing of third party data.</p>

Wettbewerbszentrale v. Wunderbräu (Advertising beer as ‘CO2 positive’/’climate-neutral production’) - decision

Filed

The Climate Litigation Database

Find climate change litigation data and indicators for {text}.

{text} litigation

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law provides Climate Litigation Database, a comprehensive database of US and Global climate change caselaw

Quickly and easily search through the complete text of thousands of climate change law and policy documents from every country.

Search the Climate Litigation Database

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

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

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

Actions to reduce emissions in energy generation and supply.

Electrical energy generated from mechanical devices driven by flowing fresh water.

The activities of industries involved in the production, distribution, and sale of energy, including electricity, gas, and renewables.

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.

Any substance with chemical properties that can cause physical harm to people or damage the environment, including ammonia, carbon monoxide, phosphine, chlorine, arsenic, cadmium, mercury, pesticides, dioxins, microplastics, benzene, asbestos, aflatoxins, fluoride, methanol, and toxins from marine sources.

Wettbewerbszentrale v. Wunderbräu (Advertising beer as ‘CO2 positive’/’climate-neutral production’) - decision

Risk

Renewable energy

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Finance