New analysis from the British Retail Consortium and Provenance suggests that 74% of all products marketed online by British retailers feature some form of green claim.

In fact, the research found an average of 2.9 green claims per product.

The research, which analyses 390k claims across nearly 132k SKUs, from seven major UK online supermarket retailers, suggests UK retailers are responding positively to a rise in consumer expectations around sustainability in recent years.

A survey from GlobalData into apparel shoppers in Europe showed sustainability remains an important purchase driver, but less so than price, quality and value for money, exacerbated by the ongoing economic crisis. However, 60.2% still worry about the industry’s effect on the environment and 62.8% are avoiding buying fast fashion as a result, highlighting how brands and retailers must still focus on the environmental and ethical impact of their practises to maintain strong consumer perceptions.

While sustainability and ethics are buzzwords within the fashion industry, when shoppers were asked how often certain factors influence their apparel purchases, these were ranked as the least influential, with just 45.4% and 43.5% of respondents stating that they always or often impact their decisions, respectively, across the six countries combined.

Of course there have been some challenges surrounding green claims in recent years and how they can lend themselves to greenwashing.

In July a greenwashing complaint was filed in France against Lululemon’s Be Planet campaign. 

While in February German online fashion retailer Zalando said it planned to overhaul the green claims on its website by mid-April, after the European Commission labelled them “misleading”, and it committed to providing more specific and clearer information about its product benefits. 

The Competition & Markets Authority’s Green Claims Code came into effect in September 2021. This regulatory guidance stipulates that all green claims must be accurate, clear, and backed by evidence; that they consider the full product life cycle; that comparisons are made fairly, and that they include all relevant information. The analysis by BRC and Provenance categorised all green claims as having a Low, Medium or High Risk of breaching the guidance.

One in seven claims were found to have a high risk of misleading consumers – whilst this highlights the need for further progress, this is somewhat lower than levels reported in the CMA’s global review, which estimated that 40% of green claims could be misleading.

Carbon-related claims accounted for just 2.7% of all green claims; 24% of these were classified as high risk.

Nature-related claims accounted for more than half (55%) of green claims; just 15% of these were classified as high risk.

The 10 most common high risk claims identified were:

1. Sustainable

2. Responsibly / Sustainably Sourced

3. 100% natural

4. 100% recyclable

5. Responsible forestry

6. Certified-sustainable

7. Natural goodness

8. Fully recyclable

9. 100% pure

10. Eco-friendly

BRC and Provenance are launching the Retailer Green Claims Forum, a collaborative initiative aimed at enhancing green claims compliance and transparency in the retail sector. In collaboration with compliance bodies and standards organisations, the forum will empower retailers to share learnings and work towards harmonised industry standards for green claims.

Tracey Banks, climate action roadmap manager at the British Retail Consortium, said: “It’s highly encouraging to see that retailers are responding to consumer demand for sustainability. We recognise, however, that the industry needs more support to ensure their green marketing is clear, accurate, and substantiated. What’s at stake is not just compliance, but a very real green growth opportunity. Our new Retailer Green Claims Forum with Provenance is a timely and essential initiative to help sustainability leaders collaborate with experts and peers to master green claims compliance and realise their commercial value.”

Jessi Baker, founder of Provenance, said: “It’s heartening to see retailers aren’t shying away from sustainability marketing efforts and we’re excited to partner with the BRC on the Retailer Green Claims Forum to give them the confidence they need to make accurate and credible green claims. It’s a unique opportunity for sustainability leaders to collaborate, share best practice and increase compliance. We warmly invite all retail sustainability leaders to join us in this effort to drive positive change and build consumer trust.”

 By Just Style