What do Indian rules say about green claims?

CCPA Guidelines, 2024

On 15 October 2024 the CCPA issued the Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Greenwashing or Misleading Environmental Claims, 2024, under its powers over misleading advertisements in the Consumer Protection Act, 2019. According to the official PIB release:

• They define "environmental claim" and "greenwashing" and apply to environmental claims by manufacturers and service providers.
• Vague or generic words such as "eco-friendly", "green", "sustainable" and "natural" should not be used without adequate, accurate and accessible qualifiers and substantiation.
• Specific claims must be backed by credible certification or reliable scientific evidence, including the method and data used.
• Claims must say which part they refer to: the product, the manufacturing process, the packaging, and so on.
• Third-party certification is accepted as substantiation, and material information must be disclosed clearly.

Legal summaries of the guidelines also report that future or aspirational claims, such as a net zero target, may be made only when backed by clear and actionable plans.

ASCI's advertising guidance

The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), the industry's self-regulatory body, released draft guidelines on environmental and green claims in November 2023. They say that absolute claims such as "eco-friendly" or "planet friendly" need a high level of substantiation, that claims should be based on the full life cycle unless stated otherwise, that aspirational claims about future goals need clear and actionable plans, and that carbon offset claims should disclose when the reductions will take two years or more to happen.