The average consumer product contains three green claims according to a study by the British Retail Consortium and Provenance, which warns that too many efforts to highlight eco-friendly benefits could cause confusion and weaken trust.

Without consistent regulation and clear standards, green claims may lead to mixed messages and skepticism, according to the report. The BRC calls for stricter guidelines to ensure these claims are accurate and reliable, adding that the current system of eco-labels lacks transparency, making it hard for consumers to identify trustworthy information.

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 and that comparisons are made fairly.

The analysis by BRC and Provenance categorised all green claims as having a low, medium or high risk of breaching the guidance. 1 in 7 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.

The findings come from an analysis of almost 390k claims across nearly 132k SKUs, from 7 major UK online supermarket retailers.

In conjunction with the report, 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. The initiative aims to help retailers to share learnings and work towards harmonised industry standards for green claims.

Tracey Banks, climate action roadmap manager at the BRC, 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.”

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