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(Alliance News) - The UK competition regulator on Tuesday said it will investigate claims made by Unilever PLC about the environmental impact of its consumer products.
Unilever makes a wide variety of food & drink, cleaning, toiletry, and personal care products, including brands such as Cif, Dove, Comfort, and Lynx. The UK Competition & Markets Authority said it has contacted the London-based company about its claims that some of these products are environmentally friendly.
Unilever shares were up 0.3% at 3,790.50 pence early Tuesday in London. The wider FTSE 100 index was up 0.8%.
The Unilever corporate website has a section entitled 'Planet & Society' setting out the company's green agenda, called the 'Unilever Compass'. This is its "strategy to deliver growth that is consistent, competitive, profitable and responsible". It states: "We're a company of brands and people with a clear purpose: to make sustainable living commonplace."
The CMA said "certain statements and language used by Unilever appear vague and broad, and may mislead shoppers regarding the environmental impact of [some] products".
Some ingredients of the products "are presented in a way that may exaggerate how 'natural' the product is", the CMA said.
Claims by Unilever about the recyclability of products and packaging also may be unclear, the regulatory said, while green claims about a single aspect of a product may suggest it is environmentally friendly as a whole.
The CMA said its investigation of Unilever is part of a wider probe of corporate 'greenwashing' that it launched back in January.
"So far, the evidence we've seen has raised concerns about how Unilever presents certain products as environmentally friendly," said CMA Chief Executive Sarah Cardell. "We'll be drilling down into these claims to see if they measure up. If we find they're greenwashing, we'll take action to make sure shoppers are protected."
Unilever responded that it is co-operating with the UK regulator and will "fully comply" with further requests for information.
"We are surprised and disappointed with the CMA's announcement and refute that our claims are in any way misleading," the company said.
"Unilever is committed to making responsible claims about the benefits of our products on our packs and to these being transparent and clear, and we have robust processes in place to make sure any claims can be substantiated."
Unilever added about its recycling information: "We use the 'on-pack recycling label' to provide consumers with information on how to dispose of our packaging after use, and Unilever is a founding signatory of the UK Plastics Pact, which brings together the entire plastics packaging value chain to tackle the challenges around plastic waste."
By Tom Waite, Alliance News editor
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