Ms Orla Twomey:

On behalf of the board of the Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland, ASAI, I express our appreciation for the invitation to address the Committee on Environment and Climate Action. I am accompanied by Mr. Michael Lee, deputy chief executive. ASAI is the recognised regulator for advertising in Ireland. Established for more than 40 years, it operates as a self-regulatory organisation, SRO, and is highly embedded in the advertising ecosystem. Advertising self-regulation is recognised by the OECD and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, APEC, and, in Europe, by the European Union in the unfair commercial practices, misleading and comparative advertising, and the audiovisual media services directives. ASAI seeks to ensure the highest standards of advertising in Ireland across all media, offline and online, through the enforcement of its code in the interests of consumers, business, society and advertising generally.

ASAI keeps abreast of national and international developments relevant to its code and regulation and has been keenly aware of the global movement towards sustainability in many areas. This brings growth of marketing communications that reflect or incorporate ideas and claims associated with the concept of sustainability. There is a need to look beyond the advertising content itself to see if claims being made or implied are contributing to a more sustainable environment or future. Such claims must be grounded in transparency and authenticity and be capable of substantiation to avoid the potential pitfalls of greenwashing.

The extensive ASAI code, developed through public consultation and with diverse stakeholders, incorporates a dedicated segment specifically for environmental claims. This includes rules regarding qualified and unqualified claims, the need for substantiation and making the limits of the life cycle clear. The ASAI's independent complaints committee is seeing a growing volume of complaints for adjudication falling within the general term of "greenwashing". This trend has been an emerging one experienced by our contemporaries at European and international levels.

The European Advertising Standards Alliance, co-founded by the ASAI, is the single voice on advertising self-regulation issues in Europe, representing 27 national advertising self-regulatory organisations. As vice chairperson of the alliance, I moderated a critically important panel discussion last month on "Further contributing to responsible environmental marketing communications". One of the speakers, Ms Marie-Paule Benassi, head of unit for consumer enforcement and redress at the Directorate General for Justice and Consumers, stated:

Consumers want to be greener in their consumption choices. Green claims must not be used as a marketing trick: they have to enable the transition and be adapted to the needs of consumers ... There is complementarity between law and self-regulation.

At the same event, the keynote speaker, Mr. Didier Reynders, the European Commissioner for Justice, commented:

Legislation alone cannot solve all our problems ... I see both regulatory and self-regulatory instruments as complementary to each other.

As an ongoing agenda, with the European Advertising Standards Alliance and its members having a significant role in the development of best practice for advertising self-regulation, alliance members are continuing the conversation to identify further appropriate needs and actions.

Within the advertising ecosystem, other players are actively engaging on the sustainability agenda. Last year, the World Federation of Advertisers launched its Planet Pledge initiative, complemented by developing guidance covering how brands can make sure environmental claims featured in their marketing communications are credible for both consumers and regulators. Separately, Ad Net Zero is the advertising industry's drive to reduce the carbon impact of developing, producing and running advertising to real net zero. In Ireland, Ad Net Zero is driven by all the key trade bodies and organisations in the marketing and advertising community.

With the imminent transposition of the audiovisual and media services directive, the new media commission will have EU-wide responsibility in the new area of video-sharing platform services regulation. The ASAI, with the European Advertising Standards Alliance, has been in liaison with the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, BAI, regarding the potential of opening up its existing cross-border complaints mechanism to the media commission as a tool that could be leveraged to manage future advertising complaints, including those emerging in the sustainability space. The ASAI conducts compliance monitoring to evaluate the code compliance of marketing communications. To manage scale for online advertising, we have been working with European partners on artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities as tools to capture both compliant and non-compliant advertising. These tools will greatly assist the ASAI in assessing the compliance of marketing communications, including those covering sustainability.

The ASAI considers that the subject under the committee's review is timely, appropriate and significant. This is an area for continued consideration in a cohesive way. Such is the scale of the subject that the ASAI holds the view that multiple stakeholders across borders are needed to work harmoniously in an inclusive and collaborative way in bringing forward this agenda for the benefit of all stakeholders. The ASAI will continue to play its part. I thank members for their attention and I welcome the opportunity to contribute further today.