The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is clamping down on companies using green terminology such as “carbon neutral” and “net zero” to prove their claims. The move follows a six-month review that led to the authority censuring airlines Lufthansa and Etihad about the accuracy of their green statements. There are concerns that firms are “greenwashing” their activities by purchasing carbon credits that make little impact for the environment. An investigation by The Guardian, the German weekly newspaper Die Zeit and investigative journalism organisation SourceMaterial found that over 90% of rainforest carbon offsets by the world’s leading certifier Verra, were worthless. Companies including Shell, BP and Apple have used Verra’s methodology. Luxury Italian brand Gucci, which turned over £9 billion ($12bn) in 2020, recently dropped its claim to be carbon neutral. In a similar decision, Easyjet ceased claims for offsetting emissions last year.
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It is important that carbon credit schemes also benefit local communities.
The World Meteorological Organisation has stated that 193 countries have given unanimous backing to a scheme to monitor global greenhouse...
