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Summary on the panel Green Advertising02.11.2025

The panel on the highly relevant topic about the legal assessment of environmental advertising at the LIDC Congress 2025 in Vienna brought together an international group of speakers with diverse backgrounds.

The discussion adressed in particular the following question: ‘Can strict rules, such as the pre-approval of green claims to prevent Green Washing, lead to Green Hushing?’
Andrea Zinober, Partner at bpv Hügel, chaired the session and began with an overview of the legal status quo and practical challenges in green advertising and in preventing greenwashing, as well as current regulatory efforts.
Ambroise PASCAL from the French Ministry of Economy shared the supervisory authority's perspective and explained how consumer law combats greenwashing at both the national and European levels. Unlike the other panelists, he advocated for the pre-approval of green claims.
Erika Ummenberger-Zierler, Head of Competition Policy and Law at the Austrian Federal Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism provided her viewpoint on the current legal framework and expressed serious doubts about whether pre-approval of green claims would be an effective tool to prevent greenwashing.
Jennifer Beal from the Center for Protection against Unfair Competition in Germany gave an overview of recent case law concerning misleading green claims, including a prominent case regarding a “climate neutral” claim brought before the BGH by her organization. She also voiced skepticism about the planned Green Claims Directive, which proposes introducing pre-approval of green claims.
Gabriela Staber, Partner at CMS, offered insights into the practical challenges advertisers face when substantiating green claims and raised concerns that pre-approval would significantly increase costs for advertising. She warned that such measures could deter companies from making green claims altogether, potentially resulting in green hushing.

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Summary on the panel Green Advertising02.11.2025

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