ESG Enforcement Tracker

On 23 June 2026, the bottled water brand Volvic, owned by Danone, was found liable by the Paris Judicial Court for misleading commercial practices. The ruling followed a case brought by the French consumer association CLCV, which challenged representations made on Volvic’s packaging that the product was “carbon neutral”, “certified carbon neutral”, “100% recycled”, “100% recyclable” and “always recyclable”.

The court held that the claims of carbon neutrality were misleading because the emissions associated with producing Volvic bottles were not fully offset by carbon-compensation projects. It also found that the recycling claims overstated the environmental attributes of the bottles, noting that they were not entirely made from recycled materials and that certain components, such as labels, adhesives and ink, were not fully recyclable.

The court ordered Volvic to pay €75,000 in damages to CLCV and to publish the judgment on its website’s homepage for six months. CLCV described the ruling as a “landmark” decision, as it was the first time a French court had addressed the use of terms such as “carbon neutral” and “100% recyclable” in relation to consumer products.

On 30 June 2026, Volvic confirmed that it would appeal the decision.