The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published guidance for businesses on how to comply with the law when making environmental claims, with a particular focus on steps that can be taken across the supply chain.

The guidance is intended for all businesses in the supply chain and supplements the CMA’s Green Claims Code, which provides comprehensive advice on how to make claims about a product or service’s environmental impact whilst staying on the right side of the rules on unfair commercial practices in the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024.

As the CMA explains, the guidance has been issued in response to businesses asking for greater clarity on how responsibility for inaccurate or misleading environmental claims may arise along the supply chain.

The CMA confirms, for example, that while different actors along the supply chain may hold the information needed to substantiate a particular claim, businesses must take the necessary steps to ensure that claims are accurate and not misleading. In practical terms, this means that if a business cannot obtain the information required to verify a claim (for example through contractual assurances or obligations on other parties to provide such information), it should consider whether the claim can instead be framed in a way that can be substantiated. Similarly, where another business in the supply chain is the source of a claim but cannot verify it, businesses are advised to consider carefully their trading relationship in light of the legal risks that may arise.

The guidance includes helpful illustrative examples of how businesses can comply with the law in practice, emphasising that the CMA expects, among other things, that businesses should have appropriate internal processes in place to ensure that their environmental claims are accurate, hold appropriate evidence to support any claims (or require confirmation from suppliers or brands that such evidence exists), and should regularly review the information they hold to ensure it remains correct. It also includes practical checklists for retailers, supplies, manufacturers, and brands selling through third-party retailers.

To read the guidance in full, click here.