Greenwashing: 25% of companies already in breach, a new risk of direct sanction!
Behind CSR discourse, the authorities are beginning to sanction: environmental communication becomes an immediate legal risk for businesses.
CSR has just crossed a course. And this time, it is not only practices that are judged, but words.
The last controls of the DGCCRF are without appeal: one in four companies has anomalies in their environmental claims. More than 1,100 companies were inspected, with the key warnings, injunctions and first legal proceedings.
This is far beyond communication. It marks a shift: environmental promise becomes a subject of full regulatory control.
After the duty of vigilance on value chains, it is now CSR itself that falls within the scope of legal risk.
From communication to the risk of punishment
For a long time, environmental messages have come up from the marketing register, with broad and little framed formulations.
This frame disappears. The authorities now demand that each allegation be proven, traceable and methodologically sound.
Change is concrete. Regulators may impose changes to messages, initiate financial sanctions or open litigation. And, beyond the sanctions, it is the very credibility of the company that can be called into question, especially in calls for tenders where CSR criteria become decisive.
The trend is global and accelerating.
Greenwashing comes out of the reputable field to enter the field of non-compliance.
"Say-do gap" becomes an operational risk
This hardening highlights a long tolerated point of fragility: the gap between the commitments posted and the operational reality.
In many companies, this gap is due to still partial steps: incomplete data, poorly controlled supply chain, poorly consolidated indicators.
So far, this was due to a lack of maturity. Today, it becomes a risk.
Because what regulators now evaluate is no longer the intention, but the ability to prove. An environmental claim must be based on measurable, documented and verifiable data.
The impact is direct for operations, purchases or supply chain functions. Much of the environmental promise is based on value chain data.
If this data is fragile, it is all communication that is.
CSR can no longer be managed solely at the central level. It must be anchored in operations, as closely as possible to flows and suppliers, as stressed by the International d'ACTE approach.
What ACTE International recommends
Faced with this shift, the challenge is no longer to improve the discourse, but to secure what makes it credible.
The alignment between communication and data becomes a priority. Each message must be linked to reliable and verifiable indicators.
Control of value chain data is also key. Transport, purchasing and sourcing now directly affect CSR credibility.
Finally, environmental communication must be treated as a cross-cutting subject of compliance, involving CSR, legal, marketing and operations.
In a context of increased control, the risk is no longer to miscommunication, but to communicate without being able to prove.
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Our CSR training
CSR magazine
DGCCRF, Environmental Claims Control Review
KPMG, International Greenwashing Incident Analysis
Consumer Code / Environmental Code (France)