Greenwashing is currently a major issue in legislation. Not only the EU but also Switzerland is taking action against greenwashing
: the Unfair Competition Act (UWG) is being strengthened. The
amendment to the CO2 Act and the addition to the UWG are intended to ensure in the future
that false claims regarding climate impact are strictly penalized.
The Swiss Parliament has revised the CO2 Act, and
the Unfair Competition Act (UWG), to improve the verifiability of environmental claims at
. These measures aim to prevent misleading claims regarding the
environmental friendliness of products and services. These
changes will take effect on January 1, 2025.
False claims regarding environmental impact are now considered unfair under
. Companies must now prove the accuracy of their environmental claims
.
The newly tightened regulations also require Swiss
companies to provide concrete evidence for any qualitative or quantitative claims regarding
environmental friendliness. This applies to terms such as “climate-neutral,”
“sustainable,” and “green,” as well as specific data on CO2 emissions and measures
to reduce emissions.
However, this obligation to provide evidence applies not only to large companies (
) but also to smaller companies that voluntarily publish sustainability reports (
).
Since 2023, Swiss companies have been required to report on ESG issues in their
annual reports (see Art. 964a–c of the Swiss Code of Obligations).
Insufficient transparency and false statements are subject to sanctions. As a result, many
financial products were marketed as “green,” “climate-neutral,” and “sustainable”
, which did not always reflect reality. The line between marketing
and criminal conduct is often unclear. The risk of greenwashing arises precisely
from undefined terms: ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) terms
such as “sustainable” or “green” are not legally protected.
Greenwashing affects not only physical products,
but also financial products. Deceptive and misleading statements regarding the
environmental characteristics of financial products can already be sanctioned today using the
existing regulatory, criminal, and civil law instruments
. Financial service providers offering sustainable investments must
ensure that the advertised products meet customer preferences.
Action is needed both at the product level and in the advisory process.
In particular, customers’ ESG preferences must be accurately identified and
taken into account to avoid greenwashing.
Violations of the new provisions of the Unfair Competition Act (UWG) can have civil and criminal consequences
. In addition to competitors
, consumers, professional and trade associations, and consumer protection organizations are also entitled to file lawsuits.
Consumer Protection Switzerland has set up a platform where
consumers can report possible cases of greenwashing.
Companies should integrate measures to prevent greenwashing into their risk management practices (
). In addition, they should provide training for employees (
) and ensure that climate-related statements are based on verifiable data (
).
Measures against
greenwashing have been taken not only in Switzerland; the EU has also adopted the Directive on
corporate sustainability reporting, which took effect in early 2024
.
These legislative changes represent a significant
step toward enhancing the credibility of sustainability claims and
protecting consumers from misleading advertising. Companies should
prepare for the new requirements early on and ensure that all
environmental claims are well-founded and verifiable.
Do you have any questions about this topic, or would you like a personal consultation? Write to us—we’re happy to help.
