H&M to adjust or no longer make green claims

AMSTERDAM – H&M and Decathlon have agreed to adjust or no longer make sustainability claims on their clothing after been found greenwashing by the Dutch authorities. The pair will also pay €400,000 and €500,000 respectively to “sustainability causes” to avoid further sanctions by the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM). The ACM says the two chains have committed to informing consumers more clearly in order to minimize the risk of misleading practices involving sustainability claims.

The money – fines, effectively – will be paid to different sustainable causes to “compensate for their use of unclear and insufficiently substantiated sustainability claims.”

In spring 2021, ACM asked clothing retailers to take a closer look at their claims. ACM subsequently continued its investigation into Decathlon and H&M, among other retail chains. The investigation revealed Decathlon and H&M offered their products using general terms such as ‘Ecodesign’ and ‘Conscious’ without immediately specifying clearly the sustainability benefits with the claim. 

In the course of the investigation, the two retailers indicated they were willing to adjust their practices, and to make commitments. ACM will enforce compliance with these commitments over the next two years. 

Cateautje Hijmans van den Bergh, member of the board of ACM, said: “Consumers that wish to make sustainable choices must be able to have confidence in the veracity of the claims that businesses make on their products or websites. We are pleased to see that these companies have acknowledged that they should have informed consumers more clearly about the sustainability aspects of their products, and that they will adjust various sustainability claims and their substantiations. They will also take measures to inform their customers better in the future. We also welcome their commitment to donate generous sums of money to sustainable causes as compensations for their vague sustainability claims. These donations go to independent organizations that contribute towards sustainability and clothing.”