ESG Enforcement Tracker

Key facts:

The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) organised the filing of complaints across 13 EU nation state regulators (in France, Greece, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Slovenia, Hungary, Portugal, Bulgaria, Poland, Austria, Slovakia and Finland) for breach, by various water bottle traders, of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (2005/29/EC). BEUC claimed that Coca-Cola’s claims were not accurate on bottles being 100% recyclable or recycled, and the use of green imagery in their labelling.

Following this, the Coca-Cola voluntarily engaged with the European Commission and the CPC-Network (the organisation of state regulators, the Consumer Protection Cooperation Network) and committed to clarify its labelling to avoid misleading impressions of environmental benefits.

The European Commission reports that Coca-Cola committed to changing its labelling to make clear what elements of the bottle, i.e. label and cap, are not made from 100% recycled plastic and to make clear there is not a closed loop in the recycling process by avoiding words like “again” in relation to the recycling process (i.e. “recycle me” over “Recycle me again”). It reports that Coca-Cola also committed to ensuring the ‘overall impression of the label and the marketing’ is not misleading on the environmental benefits of the packaging, particularly with the use of green claims/symbols.