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15 November 2024
Issue: 8094 / Categories: Legal News , Environment , Climate change litigation
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NLJ this week: Risky times for companies accused of greenwashing

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Be on guard against ‘greenwashing’ as tough regulations are now in place. Moreover, the latest guidance available suggests a low threshold for culpability. In this week’s NLJ, Paige Coulter, associate at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan UK, with input from Julianne Hughes-Jennett, partner, sets out the risks involved and predicts a rise in litigation under the Companies Act 2006 and other legislation concerning allegations of greenwashing (publishing misleading information about the environmental or sustainability characteristics of a good, service or business).

Coulter and Hughes-Jennett write that guidance issued in September by the Competition and Markets ‘highlights in particular the risks of brevity in advertising’. 

They advise companies to avoid making any claims that could be viewed as overly broad, vague or ambiguous, writing: ‘From the regulator’s perspective, being vague can be tantamount to being misleading.’ 

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond

Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond

Partner joinscorporate and finance practice in British Virgin Islands

Dawson Cornwell—Naomi Angell

Dawson Cornwell—Naomi Angell

Firm strengthens children department with adoption and surrogacy expert

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green

Media and technology expert joins employment team as partner in Cambridge

NEWS
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
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