Ms Orla Twomey:

As the regulator of advertising, it is not our role to decide whether particular product categories should be banned. Where a product can be legally advertised, our role is to ensure the advertising for that product or category is responsible.

One of the things we have noticed clearly as we have gone through the decades is that the science around climate change has changed and our understanding of it has evolved. When the ASAI first introduced guidance on environmental claims some 30 years ago, the whole concept of the life cycle was not in place.

Now, however, we know it is absolutely vital to look at the whole life-cycle of a product or service to determine whether it can make a sustainability claim. The other important thing is that when companies want to make a claim about sustainability or environment, they have to be very clear on what part of the product or service life cycle they are talking about. Thirty years ago greener was a concept, whereas now it is about asking what is greener. That is one of the discussions being had at European level with our European colleagues. The European Commission is looking at this and will issue guidance about the type of substantiation required. We welcome that. To have clear guidance from the European Commission on substantiation that applies throughout the EU will be helpful, not just for industry but also for regulators and consumers.

When we talk about greenwashing, it is important to recognise that we want to encourage companies coming out with sustainable products and where the talent to create that is being used, that consumers are informed about the choices they can make. Companies coming up with products should feel confident that they can make appropriate claims. If companies are not telling consumers about the products they have, then consumers will not be making potentially sustainable choices.