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Press release from Nepenthes 14th of December 2009
Coca-Cola accused of greenwashing at COP15
The Danish NGO Nepenthes files a complaint to the Danish Consumer Ombudsman for misleading marketing in the advertisement of Coca-Cola's new Plantbottle.
 During the United Nations COP15 Climate Change Conference and a few weeks beforehand, the people of Copenhagen have witnessed the Coca-Cola Company's launch of its new Plantbottle. On billboards and in newspapers the company loudly advertises the bottle made of recycled plastic and ”up to 15% plant material."
“This is greenwash,” says the Danish NGO Nepenthes.
The organization today filed a complaint to the Danish Consumer Ombudsman in which Nepenthes accuses the soft drink company of false marketing.
Nepenthes believes that Coca-Cola abuses the concern for the climate of millions of people to mislead consumers by branding the new Plantbottle as being more environmentally friendly than standard packaging material.
”The Coca Cola Company informs at its website that the plant material is ethanol made of sugar canes and molasses. However, this doesn't make the plastic climate friendly. Increasing use of land for purposes other than food production raises the risk of deforestation and degradation of forests to create farm land. This conversion results in huge releases of CO2 stored in plants and soils. This is also a common problem with the production of first generation bioethanol. Therefore plant materials are not necessarily a good thing for the environment,” says President of Nepenthes, Kristian Jørgensen.
In general Nepenthes lacks documentation that proves that the Plantbottle ”cares for the environment,” as stated in advertisements.
Furthermore Nepenthes finds it is misleading that The Coca Cola Company states in Danish advertisements that the bottle as always is 100% recyclable.
”Recycling plastic bottles is not new. It is a standard way of making bottles in Denmark. Therefore this testimony should be omitted in marketing, because it may affect consumers' ability to evaluate the product,” emphasizes Kristian Jørgensen.
If The Coca-Cola Company cannot prove that this new bottle indeed is better for the environment than other bottles, the advertising breaches Danish consumer protection laws guarding against marketing on false premises.
Today the group handed over a formal complaint to The Ombudsman of the Danish consumers, asking him to make sure that The Coca Cola Company delivers the needed documentation on the beneficial effects of the new bottle or stop branding it as environmentally friendly.
Nepenthes has previously successfully filed a complaint against the oil company Statoil for marketing of gasoline with a 5 % bioethanol content as highly environmentally friendly.
>> See the complaint for futher green wash illustration
For further information, please contact:
President of Nepenthes
Kristian Jørgensen
(+45) 5125 2319
About Nepenthes
Nepenthes is an environmental organisation working to encourage sustainable use of the world's forests, particularly in Denmark and in the rainforests of the tropics.
The organization runs several development projects on sustainable forest use in Central America. In addition, significant efforts are dedicated to influencing the debate on environmental policy in Denmark. Nepenthes strives to improve Danish environmental legislation through professional knowledge and well-founded argumentation.
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