GREENWASHING GUIDELINES

1.1 An entity advertising goods or services offered by it to consumers must comply with the Greenwashing Guidelines which include the below requirements:

(a) Generic terms such as ‘clean’, ‘green’, ‘eco-friendly’, ‘eco-consciousness’, ‘good for the planet’, ‘minimal impact’, ‘cruelty-free’, ‘carbon – neutral’, ‘natural’, ‘organic’, ‘pure’, sustainable, regenerative or other similar claims shall not be used without adequate, accurate and accessible qualifiers and substantiation and adequate disclosures;

(b) While using technical terms like Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Ecological Footprint, one shall use consumer-friendly language and explain the meaning or implications of technical terms;

(c) All environmental claims shall be supported by accessible verifiable evidence based on independent studies or third-party certifications;

(d) disclose all material information in the advertisement or communications, a QR Code or URL (or any such technology or digital medium) can be used to do the same;

(e) While making an environmental claim should specify whether it refers to the goods, manufacturing process, packaging, manner of use of the goods or its disposal; or service or the process of rendering the service;

(f) Specific environmental claims such as Compostable, Degradeable, free-of, Sustainability claims, Non-Toxic, 100% Natural, Recyclable, Refillable, Renewable, plastic-free, plastic-positive, climate-positive, net-zero and similar claims must be supported by disclosure about credible certification, reliable scientific evidence, internal verifiable evidence, certificates from statutory or independent third-party verification; and

(g) Disclosures made in relation to the environmental claims shall: (i) be easily accessible to the consumer; and (ii) not contradict the relevant environmental claim.