Europe’s largest pork producer misled customers with its “climate-controlled pork” campaign, Denmark’s high court has ruled in the country’s first climate lawsuit.
Campaigners argued that Danish Crown greenwashed its meat with round, pink stickers on its packaging that said pigs were “climate-controlled”, along with a marketing campaign that claimed its pork was “more climate-friendly than you think”.
The court ruled that the first claim violated Denmark’s marketing act, noting the labels came from Danish Crown itself rather than an independent body, but found the second claim was backed up well enough to use.
“Today’s verdict sends a resounding message, not only within Denmark but throughout Europe, that misleading marketing tactics cannot hide behind the shield of freedom of speech,” said Rune-Christoffer Dragsdahl, the general secretary of the Vegetarian Society of Denmark, one of the plaintiffs. “Profiting from climate promises must be backed with legitimate climate action.”
Denmark is Europe’s pork capital. It kills tens of millions of pigs each year in its slaughterhouses and exports most of the meat to other countries in the EU, according to the Danish Agriculture and Food Council.
The court found that Danish Crown’s “climate-controlled pork” label had not been subject to independent control and so limited the average consumer’s ability to make an informed decision. The labelling could “significantly distort” the economic behaviour of the average consumer, it said.
Danish Crown stopped using the label in 2021.
But the court rejected arguments against the claim in Danish Crown’s marketing that its pork was “more climate-friendly than you think”.
It said the statement was relative and cited a report showing that Danish consumers struggle to identify how polluting pork is – with most of them ranking pigs alongside cows. Pork emits less planet-heating emissions than beef per serving, but more than chicken.
All three emit far more greenhouse gases than plant-based foods.
“It’s more likely that pigs can fly than pork production can be climate friendly,” said Frederik Roland Sandby from the Climate Movement, an association of grassroot climate groups in Denmark.
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The case, brought by the Vegetarian Society of Denmark and the Climate Movement, is the first time greenwashing has been taken to trial in Denmark. Activists hope it can force wider shifts in the food industry as companies face greater scrutiny from advertising watchdogs and more pressure from courts.
On Thursday the state of New York filed a suit against the US arm of JBS, the world’s largest meatpacker, accusing it of misleading customers over its climate goals.
The court ordered Danish Crown to pay some of the legal costs, with a value of about €40,000 (£35,000). The company did not respond to requests for comment.
“Today’s victory is David v Goliath in action, acting as a timely reminder to meat giants: no entity is above accountability,” said Sandby. “We hope this brings about a domino effect.”
