February 2024
Following litigation brought by the Austrian consumer association “Verein für Konsumenteninformation” (VKI), a court recently regarded carbon-neutral claims as misleading.
An Austrian brewery had advertised its beer as “carbon-neutrally brewed”. The VKI filed a lawsuit regarding this claim, arguing that it was misleading.
The main issue in the proceedings was if malting formed part of the brewing process. As the malting process was not carbon-neutral, the brewery argued that malting was not part of the brewing process. However, unfortunately for the brewery, it had stated the contrary on its website, where malting was presented as part of the brewing process.
Because of this, the Regional Court Linz found that malting was in fact part of the brewing process and that the brewery had misled consumers about the beer being brewed carbon-neutrally. Interestingly, the court dismissed a further claim of the VKI and found that the brewery was not obliged to provide information on how the carbon savings related to the overall ecological impact caused by the product. The judgement was not appealed and is final.
