Over the past couple of weeks, there have been a pair of greenwashing lawsuits filed--by both private plaintiffs and government regulators--that highlight the current focus on consumer products as a centerpiece of greenwashing litigation. Specifically, a private plaintiff brought a consumer-protection lawsuit against Tyson Foods alleging misrepresentations concerning the marketing of "climate-smart" beef, and the SEC filed an enforcement action against the manufacturer of coffee machines concerning statements about the recyclability of coffee pods. Both actions focused on allegedly misleading advertising concerning environmental issues and the potential impact of said advertising on consumers.
To be clear, this focus on consumer products in greenwashing litigation is not a new development. Greenwashing has been a typical focus in ESG litigation, and consumer products have often featured in such litigation--for the altogether unsurprising reason that consumer-focused goods feature advertising directed at consumers that can allegedly contain misrepresentations concerning the environment. Nonetheless, these recent lawsuits demonstrate the continuing focus on consumer products in greenwashing litigation, and suggest that further lawsuits or enforcement actions may be filed against similarly-situated companies.
A consumer-protection lawsuit filed Wednesday alleges that Tyson
Foods is misleading consumers with claims about its efforts to curb
greenhouse gas emissions.
Environmental Working Group, an advocacy group, accused the
company of taking advantage of the "well-intentioned
preferences" of shoppers by making false statements in
marketing materials, like saying it was working toward
"net-zero" emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050 and by
advertising "climate-smart" beef.
Industrialized beef production, the lawsuit contends, will never
be "climate-smart" because of the sheer volume of
emissions produced in the process of raising cows on an industrial
scale. It also argued that the company had shown no evidence of an
effort to get to net-zero emissions, a term used by governments and
companies to signal their climate goals.
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