Supported by the lawyers in our Sustainability, ESG practice and numerous industry groups, B&D advises companies that make, distribute, transport, or sell products on product labeling, advertising, and marketing claims.

Compliance

We provide efficient, actionable, forward-looking reviews of marketing claims to help companies across industry sectors comply with global, federal, and state green marketing requirements and avoid potential risks and enforcement while highlighting the environmental attributes of their products. This includes advising on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)’s environmental marketing requirements (“Green Guides”) and state counterparts, as well as claims relating to carbon neutrality/"Net Zero" emissions and similar claims.

We possess a deep knowledge of environmental and product safety, chemicals, product labeling, green marketing, and hazard communication requirements across product categories, which we apply to help clients prioritize and address complex compliance obligations.

Litigation

When companies do face green marketing lawsuits, B&D's Litigation team offers deep experience in both green marketing claims and product litigation, including putative class actions and nationwide class actions. We leverage our knowledge of relevant class action case law, FTC enforcement practices and history, and industry self-regulatory proceedings before the National Advertising Division of BBB National Programs. Furthermore, as science is often at the heart of environmental, product liability, and toxic tort cases we handle, our lawyers know the science involved in these matters. Our team includes more than 40 attorneys with scientific or technical degrees, enriching our ability to counsel clients on the interface of science, engineering, and law. We translate highly technical concepts into language that judges and juries can understand—often the difference between winning and losing a case.

Representative Matters

Relevant examples of our work include:

• Advising several Fortune 50 companies to ensure that product green marketing claims (such as those relating to recycling and climate goals) conform to applicable federal and state laws and guidelines, including the FTC Green Guides and the California Consumers Legal Remedies Act.
• Reviewing product websites and other marketing materials to confirm compliance with Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act advertising rules and related EPA policies.
• Advising several large clients on alignment with the FTC Green Guides and compliance with state consumer protection laws concerning ESG reporting (and related public statements, such as press releases) regarding GHG reduction objectives, “net zero” targets, and renewable energy use or targets.
• Advising clients on the impact of emerging GHG regulations and control regimes in the U.S. and abroad, including those aimed at consumer protection and “greenwashing,” GHG disclosures, and governance standards.
• Advising electronics manufacturers and retailers on litigation and enforcement risks associated with energy efficiency green marketing claims and ecolabels.
• Counseling a global Fortune 500 power generation and technology company on environmental content in its mandatory and voluntary disclosures, including review of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) annual filings, voluntary sustainability reports, and green marketing materials to ensure compliance with applicable federal requirements.
• Helping a major consumer products manufacturer develop product labels and related documents that could be used worldwide to instruct end-users how to properly recycle or dispose of the products at their end-of-life.
• Representing a large retailer in a consumer protection class action related to green marketing, where the plaintiff sought to use the case as an alternate means of applying pressure to companies to address various environmental concerns. We successfully obtained an injunctive-only early settlement that avoided costly expert discovery and class certification battles and created more time for the company to make significant decisions regarding the marketing and sale of the products going forward.