Verdo Trading A/S has agreed to pay a fine of DKK 3.5 million for violating the Marketing Act in the period from July 2022 to May 2025 by marketing wood pellets with green statements. This includes the statements "CO2-neutral wood pellets" and "sustainable wood pellets". In addition, the company has used a label on the packaging with the statements "a sustainable choice" and "CO2-neutral" as well as an illustration of a green tree in its marketing. This is stated by the Consumer Ombudsman in a press release.
The marketing took place on the packaging of the wood pellets, on Verdo Trading's own website, at retailers and on Facebook, including on the company's profile and in a number of advertisements. According to the Consumer Ombudsman, the marketing gave consumers the false impression that firing with wood pellets does not emit CO2 or has a smaller climate impact than is actually the case.
Verdo Trading has explained that the sustainability claims were based on the wood pellets meeting the legal requirements on sustainability in Executive Order No. 530 of 28 May 2024. However, the Consumer Ombudsman considers that it is not relevant to highlight environmental benefits that simply follow from the legislation.
- Consumers must be able to trust the accuracy of companies' green claims. It is misleading to market a product as sustainable when there are aspects of the product that burden the climate. We take misleading marketing seriously, also in the green area, and therefore we decided to report the company to the police,
says Torben Jensen, the Consumer Ombudsman.
The case was filed following complaints from consumers.
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