Sportswear giant Adidas has lost a greenwashing case in Germany, with a court ordering the company to no longer advertise the statement that it will be climate neutral by 2050, as there were no concrete steps on how this goal would be achieved beyond 2030.
THE ORDER: In a ruling issued 25 March, the Nuremberg-Fürth Regional Court ordered the company to cease advertising with the following statement and accompanying explanations: "We will be climate neutral by 2050: Adidas is committed to a series of ambitious targets that will pave the way to climate neutrality along our entire value chain by 2050."
- Adidas had not explained how this target would be achieved beyond 2030 and whether climate compensation measures would be used. Even during the court hearing, Adidas failed to provide a comprehensible explanation for this.
- According to the court, the defendant sporting goods manufacturer had not sufficiently demonstrated how climate neutrality should be achieved in concrete terms. Because this gave the incorrect impression that this was done solely by reducing emissions, the company was ordered not to use the promotional statement.
- The advertising claim was unfair because it created the inaccurate impression that the defendant would be climate neutral in 2050 solely through its own emission reductions.
- This was not true, the court argued, because the defendant intended to implement offsetting measures to a certain extent by purchasing green electricity certificates and could not itself achieve zero CO2 emissions.
- Since the term "climate neutral" was ambiguous, the defendant should have clearly and unambiguously explained what the term meant in the advertising itself to avoid misleading consumers. This was not done sufficiently.
- Explanatory information provided outside of the advertising, which consumers can only discover through their own activity, did not meet the strict requirements of the duty to provide information.
THE BACKGROUND: Adidas was hauled to court by Environmental Action Germany (Deutsche Umwelthilfe e.V. - DUH) in November 2024.
- It was alleged that Adidas had not specified concrete steps to reduce emissions beyond 2030, despite the company’s promise to cut 70% of its total emissions by that time.
- DUH said it was particularly problematic that Adidas did not disclose whether future "climate neutrality" would be achieved solely through its own CO2 reduction measures or also through the purchase of CO2 certificates from dubious projects that do not guarantee the claimed emission reductions.
- Adidas subsequently adjusted its advertising statements but did not provide a cease-and-desist declaration, leading to the lawsuit.
- The company responded by stating that they had set emissions reduction targets and provide information on climate actions for various time periods. It also mentioned that their strategies and goals were reviewed and validated by the independent Science Based Targets project.
- Adidas also stated that emissions per product have already decreased by 3% between 2022 and 2023 and that a detailed action plan was in place.
