Danish firm's 'climate-controlled pork' claim misleading, court rules

Source: The Guardian

Danish firm’s ‘climate-controlled pork’ claim misleading, court rules

Ajit Niranjan Europe environment correspondent
Fri 1 Mar 2024 14.53 GMT
Last modified on Fri 1 Mar 2024 18.31 GMT

Europe’s largest pork producer misled customers with its “climate-controlled pork” campaign, Denmark’s high court has ruled in the country’s first climate lawsuit.

Campaigners argued that Danish Crown greenwashed its meat with round, pink stickers on its packaging that said pigs were “climate-controlled”, along with a marketing campaign that claimed its pork was “more climate-friendly than you think”.

The court ruled that the first claim violated Denmark’s marketing act, noting the labels came from Danish Crown itself rather than an independent body, but found the second claim was backed up well enough to use.

“Today’s verdict sends a resounding message, not only within Denmark but throughout Europe, that misleading marketing tactics cannot hide behind the shield of freedom of speech,” said Rune-Christoffer Dragsdahl, the general secretary of the Vegetarian Society of Denmark, one of the plaintiffs. “Profiting from climate promises must be backed with legitimate climate action.”

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/mar/01/danish-firm-climate-controlled-pork-claim-misleading-court-rules