Companies promise too much with "fossil-free" goods
08 June, 2023
Many companies use the term "fossil-free" in their marketing, but they seem to mean different things by the word. In an ongoing project, the possibilities of reaching a common definition are being investigated, although it looks like it will take some time before it is possible to label a product as "fossil-free".
Lin Lerpold, researcher at the SSE and Director of the Center for Sustainability Research, is curious about how the project should define its definition of "fossil-free".
A problem she sees with the concept is that the companies risk to promise more than they can keep.
"There is no production today that is completely fossil-free, and therefore one may think that it is misleading to use that expression on one's products", she says.
