(10/01/2008)

Saab warned to withdraw 'greenwash' ads or face legal challenge

Brussels, 10 January 2008 - Swedish car manufacturer, Saab was today told to

stop portraying its cars as environmentally friendly or face legal action

for misleading advertising.

A summons [1], instigated by Friends of the Earth Europe and delivered by

bailiff to Saab's Belgian office, calls on the company to remove all wording

and imagery from its website and brochures which associate its cars with

nature or the protection of the environment. It must also withdraw false

claims that driving a Saab reduces CO2 emissions.

Friends of the Earth Europe also highlights in the document that Saab does

not display the CO2 emissions or fuel consumption figures of its 'Biopower'

engines on its website or in its brochures, which is a violation of Belgian

and European law.

The manufacturer has eight days to meet the demands, after which time

Friends of the Earth Europe will file legal proceedings complaining against

the company?s misleading advertising.

Jeroen Verhoeven, car efficiency campaigner for Friends of the Earth Europe

said: "Saab is the latest carmaker to engage in 'greenwash' advertising

designed to enhance its green credentials. Instead of fooling consumers that

its cars don't damage the environment, Saab should be making real efforts to

improve the fuel efficiency of its vehicles."

The action by Friends of the Earth Europe follows a ruling in November last

year by the Belgian advertising standards authority (JEP) that Saab must

cease an advertisement campaign in which it claimed its 'Biopower' cars made

the roads, "finally turn green". The JEP deemed that the wording was in

breach of the environmental advertisement code which forbids advertisers

from implying a product has no impact on the environment, unless the claims

can be proven.

Despite this ruling Saab has continued to claim on its website and in its

brochures that a car with a 'Biopower' engine will provide drivers with a

?clean conscience? about its environmental impact. Saab backs up this

assertion by stating that driving a car which runs on E85 - a blend of 85

per cent ethanol and 15 per cent petrol - will reduce its CO2 emissions by

80 per cent.

Friends of the Earth Europe argues that the advertising abuses consumer

concern for the environment and exploits possible lack of environmental

knowledge. Whether CO2 can be saved over the lifecycle of ethanol, and if so

by how much, is highly dependent on how the ethanol has been produced. As a

car manufacturer, Saab has no control over the origins and production

methods of ethanol available at the pump. Ethanol production has

wide-ranging negative environmental impacts such as increased water use and

land-use changes, and there are challenges in measuring life-cycle emissions

from ethanol. Consequently Saab cannot substantiate environmental claims

regarding ethanol use, and its statement that ethanol is environmentally

friendly is misleading.

"Saab is using ethanol as a green alibi to cover up the fact that it is

failing to significantly reduce the fuel consumption of it cars," Mr

Verhoeven added.

Contrary to its claims, the environmental performance of Saab's vehicles is

poor. According to official fuel consumption data, which is a key

determinant of how much CO2 cars release into the atmosphere, Saab cars rank

among the worst, rating from mediocre to very poor. [2]

***

For more information, please contact:

Jeroen Verhoeven, Car Efficiency Campaigner for Friends of the Earth Europe:

Tel: +32 2542 6101 and +32 477 463181(Belgian mobile)

Francesca Gater, Communications Officer for Friends of the Earth Europe:

Tel: +32 2542 6105 and +32 485 930515 (Belgian mobile)

***

NOTES TO EDITORS:

[1] The text of the summons can be found at;

www.foeeurope.org/corporates/greenwash/Saab/Saab_summons_100108_EN.pdf

(English)

www.foeeurope.org/corporates/greenwash/Saab/Saab_summons_100108_FR.pdf

(French)

[2] Belgian official fuel consumption data can be found at:

www.voiturepropre.be