Brett Mathews of Apparel Insider writes on LinkedIn: GERMAN COURT ORDERS ADIDAS TO REMOVE ‘CARBON NEUTRAL’ CLAIM FROM ITS WEBSITE: In a landmark ruling, the Nuremberg-Fürth Regional Court has found adidas guilty of misleading advertising over its pledge to become “climate neutral by 2050.”

The court ordered the company to stop promoting the statement: “We will be climate neutral by 2050: Adidas is committed to a number of ambitious goals that will pave the way to climate neutrality along our entire value chain in 2050.”

The court said the sportswear giant failed to clearly explain how it intends to reach this goal and did not disclose whether it would rely on carbon offsetting measures.

It should be noted the Science Based Targets initiative recently appeared to give the green light the to use of carbon offsets by signatories in a policy briefing.

The Adidas case was brought forward by environmental watchdog Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH).

DUH’s managing director, Jürgen Resch, criticised Adidas for offering “modern indulgences” through unregulated offset projects instead of focusing on real emissions reductions.

“Offsetting is not the same as cutting emissions,” he said. “The climate crisis demands more than vague promises.”

The ruling potentially opens the door to actions against other global apparel retailers, many of whom have made net zero commitments with no obvious outline of how they will achieve them.

OUR STORY: https://lnkd.in/eeZtw2W4