"Danone settles 2 plastic packaging lawsuits", 12 September 2025

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“Greenwashing,” when companies make misleading environmental or sustainability claims, is becoming riskier as the use of technology to identify bad actors grows... In addition, the volume of judgments against these companies continues to increase...

This trend comes despite the expected update to the Federal Trade Commission’s Green Guides, guidelines for environmental marketing claims, apparently stalling out... FTC requested comments on potential new updates in 2022...

PPC filed a complaint in Washington, D.C., in July 2024 against Danone over claims of misleading sustainability and recyclability marketing statements about Evian water bottles...

The Danone settlements follow the District of Columbia Superior Court’s decision in March to deny the CPG’s motion to dismiss that case, allowing it to move forward...

As demonstrated in the Danone settlements, PPC’s and EII’s lawsuits generally do not seek financial compensation, but rather request that defendants cease the offending behavior and amend marketing statements...

Earth Island Institute and Plastic Pollution Coalition tout the environmental lawsuits they file against major corporations, including those they dub “Big Plastic,” for greenwashing, plastic pollution and other related issues... Last year, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals ruled that Coca-Cola must face the deceptive sustainability marketing lawsuit that EII brought against it...

Danone itself faced a similar microplastics lawsuit, which a Chicago judge dismissed last year. Earlier this year, the company settled a plastics transparency lawsuit with three European organizations and agreed to four measures, including implementing reusable packaging solutions.

Danone did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.