A court in Germany ordered has ordered sportswear manufacturer Adidas to stop advertising that it will become ‘climate neutral by 2050’.
The Nuremberg-Fürth Regional Court on March 25, 2025, said Adidas was 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 brand, which has its headquarters in Germany, failed to clearly explain how it intends to reach this goal and did not disclose whether it would rely on carbon offsetting measures.
It added that the term ‘climate neutral’ is ambiguous and can be understood to mean that climate neutrality is achieved by avoiding one’s own emissions. Due to the relevance of the term ‘climate neutral’, strict requirements should be placed on the explanatory information required to avoid misleading consumers.
“Advertising a company or its products with supposed climate neutrality can therefore have a significant impact on the purchasing decision. This also applies to claimed future climate neutrality, since such a declaration of intent or commitment already highlights the company’s sense of responsibility for the environment or the climate,” said the judgment.
The case against Adidas was filed by Environmental Action Germany (DUH) in November 2024. It labelled the claim as ‘greenwashing’.
“Adidas’ defeat in court underlines the importance of clear and transparent promises for the future,” said DUH Federal Director Jürgen Resch.
“The climate crisis is in full swing, and yet more and more companies are advertising with opaque and implausible promises for the future. Therefore, we need clear legal requirements,” Resch said.
The Adidas website said the company is adapting the business, reducing the operations footprint and driving innovation — all with the ambition to mitigate our impact on the climate.
Adidas has set climate targets validated by the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi). The latter supports companies in setting reduction targets that are scientifically grounded, helping businesses contribute effectively to global climate action.
DUH had also won a greenwashing lawsuit filed against airline Lufthansa, again on grounds of misleading consumers with sustainability claims.
In the case against Lufthansa, the regional court in Cologne on March 21, 2025 directed that the airline should not advertise with the statement “offset CO2 emissions by contributing to climate protection projects”.
The court upheld the DUH’s argument that the company’s offset and reduction promise is untenable. Lufthansa has thus violated the statutory prohibition on misleading advertising.
Both verdicts are not final. The respondents can appeal.
A 2020 study by the European Commission found that about 53 per cent of green claims give vague, misleading or unfounded information. Around 40 per cent of claims have no supporting evidence. Further, half of all green labels offer weak or non-existent verification.
A survey published by North Rhine-Westphalia’s consumer protection centre, a German consumer advice centre, said products advertised as ‘climate neutral’ mislead consumers because the vast majority of people don’t have a clear idea what the claim means.