Picture © Oatly

On the review of 2023 episode of the Net Zero Business Podcast (did I mention I host a podcast?), I nominated the UK Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) for its increasingly hardline attitude to greenwash, banning adverts that mislead even if they are factually correct in a narrow sense. Well, that’s small beer compared to the hole that dairy-alternative brand Oatly has recently dug for itself.

Oatly has reportedly settled a lawsuit for an eye-watering $9.3m – brought by investors angry that they had been misled by over-hyped green claims. That’s a huge new front opening up in the battle against greenwash. It is one thing to have your expensive ad banned by the ASA – as happened to Oatly in 2022 – quite another to have to explain to all your shareholders that you’ve had to pay out the best part of $10m to some of their number for fraudulent claims.

Helps focus the mind on getting your green claims right, doesn’t it? I have to say it is much needed as I have seen some really blatant greenwash recently – in particular an ad by purveyors of boiling tap water systems Qooker who claimed their product somehow prevented people buying bottled water. I mean that is so blatantly greenwash that it boggles my mind that a team of professional people somewhere thought it was OK (and got paid for it to boot).

But the bottom line is, if you have ESG investors, they expect you deliver on your Sustainability promises.