Climate-neutral heating oil: Brandenburg consumer advice center successfully sues for misleading advertising

Climate-neutral heating oil: Brandenburg consumer advice center successfully sues for misleading advertising

According to a report by www.rbb24.de,

Advertising messages that appeal to climate conscience are currently omnipresent. Even buying “climate-neutral” heating oil seems to be possible. The Brandenburg Consumer Center (VZB) has successfully taken action against a misleading climate claim and has obtained a cease and desist declaration, as it announced on Friday.

The consumer advice center criticizes the promise of climate neutrality in the heating oil case for competition law reasons, among other things. She argues that advertising claims about climate protection are sales-promoting and that consumers may choose the advertised product over competing products without this claim.

The consumer advice center points out that the production and use of heating oil has harmful effects on the climate and the term climate neutrality gives the false impression that the product itself has no harmful effects on the climate. She also warns that companies should only advertise what they can achieve on their own to protect the climate, instead of hiding behind compensation projects.

The misleading advertising of “climate neutral” heating oil can distort the market by steering consumers to a particular brand or type of heating oil based on false claims. Companies that actually produce climate-neutral products could be disadvantaged as a result. In addition, consumers could be lured into choosing heating oil variants with misleading promises without being aware of the actual impact on the climate. This could lead to market distortion as products are sold based on false claims that do not actually provide the environmental protection promised.