The Federal Association of Consumer Centers (VZBV) has sued Tesla for unfair competition, claiming that the company’s advertisement of “CO2 emissions 0g/km” is misleading. Although the VZBV lost the first case, it prevailed in a case against Tesla’s “Guard Mode”, which surveillance program is illegal in the EU. Tesla has issued a cease-and-desist declaration after the hearing before the Berlin Regional Court, and is no longer allowed to advertise the guard mode.
However, the VZBV is still appealing against the court’s decision that it is not misleading for Tesla to advertise its mission as “accelerating the transition to sustainable energy” and describe its credo as an “emission-free future”. Although Tesla’s specification of 0g CO2/km is mandatory according to the German Car Energy Consumption Labeling Ordinance, a lot of CO2 is emitted during the manufacture of the vehicles, especially the batteries, and electricity production is usually also CO2-intensive.
Moreover, Tesla earns billions from the sale of emission certificates, which allows other car manufacturers who sell new cars with higher CO2 emissions to buy these certificates. In this respect, every Tesla purchased also enables the sale of “fuel guzzlers”. The VZBV argues that Tesla’s advertising should include more detailed information to avoid misleading consumers. However, the Berlin Regional Court argues that Tesla is not obliged to provide active information, but only to avoid misleading consumers.
Although environmentally-related advertising statements are subject to “strict requirements and extensive duties to provide information”, according to the court, Tesla’s advertisement does not claim that no CO2 is emitted during production. The court argues that the average Tesla buyer is concerned with their own ecological footprint, rather than the company’s ecological footprint. The VZBV plans to appeal the verdict.
