Apple, an American multinational corporation and technology company, faces a clash with the German court verdict, opposing the brand from advertising its Watch as a "CO2-neutral product" in Germany on Tuesday. This verdict was upheld after a series of complaints from various environmentalists, in the name of providing misleading information to consumers.
Recently, as attributed in a statement from the regional court in Frankfurt, the American tech company promoted its latest Apple Watch online as "our first CO2-neutral product", claimed by an unfounded panel of judges, which further violates the German competition law.
By referring to the court's ruling, a spokesperson from Apple commented, "broadly upheld our rigorous approach to carbon neutrality" and further declined to give any opinion considering the firm to appeal Tuesday's ruling.
Tracing back to June 2025, the tech company stated the German lawsuit is a threat "to discourage the kind of credible corporate climate action the world needs."
Irrespective of this, Apple's spokesperson, on Tuesday, with consideration to the report mentioned that the firm will phase out the carbon neutral label from the Apple Watch advertisements. This consideration by the firm has been made by referring to EU legislation that will come into being in September 2026, which clearly restricts the use of such words.
The firm's claim of carbon neutrality comes from the project it has been operating in Paraguay, aiming to offset emissions by eucalyptus tree plantation on leased land. However, some ecologists claim that planting of these trees can create biodiversity harm like monocultures and higher water usage, leading to their name as "green deserts".
On this again, the court of Frankfurt stated that leases of 75 per cent of the project area are not secured beyond 2029 and there has been no assurance made by the firm considering expanding its contracts beyond that year.
Besides Apple, Microsoft and Meta are also investing in similar product lines in Latin America to receive carbon credits.
The claim against Apple was brought by the Environmentalist group Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH), which deems the ruling a success against "greenwashing."
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