Greenwashing UK fashion firms to be named and shamed by watchdog

theguardian.com:

Consumers are being duped into paying a premium for fashion products that make grand claims about their environmental credentials but have no evidence to back them up, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has said as it prepares to name and shame high street clothing companies.

Entire lines of clothing are being labelled “sustainable” and “eco-friendly”, without the company having proof that the whole process – from manufacture to delivery, packaging and sale – is good for the environment, according to the CMA.

The CMA is investigating claims by Britain’s fashion sector and will shortly have a list of the worst offenders. It is investigating sector by sector, with the packaged food industry and supermarkets likely to be next.

It is estimated that UK consumers spend £54bn annually on clothing and footwear, and this is expected to continue growing in the coming years. According to some estimates, fashion is responsible for between 2% and 8% of global carbon emissions, as well as causing waste and pollution. About 300,000 tonnes of used clothes are burned or buried in landfill each year in the UK.

But buyers trying to do the right thing by buying sustainable products are being bamboozled by sweeping claims, according to the watchdog, resulting in a loss of trust which could stop the UK reaching its climate commitments.

Cecilia Parker Aranha, the CMA’s director of consumer protection, said: “According to our research, something like 60% of people had said they were either likely to or fairly likely to be willing to pay more for products, and I think it was up to about 9% more [money] for products that were environmentally friendly. My impression is that people are willing to pay a premium.”

This means companies have been