Dr. Oetker stops climate claims without substantiation

Berlin – Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) has reached an agreement with food group Dr. Oetker regarding the company's climate claims. Under the agreement, Dr. Oetker has committed to ceasing the claim of "complete climate neutrality by 2050" without sufficient evidence of how the goal will be achieved. DUH had accused Dr. Oetker of misleading consumers with a non-transparent future promise, as the company lacked a clear plan or measurable interim targets.

The organization now calls on Dr. Oetker to align its operations more climate-friendly and to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions throughout its entire supply chain. DUH particularly emphasizes the need to reduce methane emissions, which originate from animal agriculture. Methane has been identified as a significantly more harmful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide in the short term.

Jürgen Resch, Federal Managing Director of DUH, commented: "If Dr. Oetker advertises climate protection on its products or websites, it must be able to demonstrate with concrete and verifiable measures how this goal will be achieved." Resch welcomed the agreement and stressed that the new EU consumer protection directive on future environmental claims, which comes into effect in September, will further tighten these requirements.

Dr. Oetker's product portfolio includes a significant proportion of dairy products, which are linked to supply chains associated with methane emissions. The organization points out that agriculture is a major source of methane emissions in Germany, and particularly the digestive processes of livestock produce large amounts of this climate-damaging gas. The new EU regulations require companies to have detailed, realistic, and openly reviewable plans to achieve their environmental goals.