The Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Greenwashing or Misleading Environment Claims were issued by the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA).
Its guidelines are limited to curbing greenwashing in advertisements of products or services.
The new norms would complement the existing Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading Advertisements and Endorsement for Misleading Advertisements, framed in 2022.
Greenwashing refers to the growing tendency of companies, organisations or even countries to make dubious or unverifiable claims about their activities, products or services being environment-friendly or climate-friendly.
Generic terms like “clean”, “green”, “eco-friendly”, “good for planet”, “cruelty-free”, “carbon neutral”, “natural”, “organic”, “sustainable”, or similar other descriptions for a product would be allowed only if the company is able to substantiate these with evidence.