Australia’s advertising regulator has found that a wood stove company’s environmental claims aren’t supported by evidence.
Ad Standards has ruled against wood stove manufacturer “Clean Air Woodheaters” on two separate complaints.
Both rulings were against claims on the “Environmental Impact” page of the wood stove company’s website. In the first decision, the ad regulator considered the company’s statement:
Not only does the wood burn, but the carbon rich gases emitted burn as well! Virtually no smoke or other gases are released, just clean warm air that spreads throughout your home for maximum comfort.
According to Ad Standards, a complaint they’d received had noted there was no evidence to support this claim. The complaint argued, among other points, that “virtually all tests conducted on new wood heaters in peoples’ homes show that these heaters emit just as many pollutants as was the case 20 years ago.”
Ad Standards found that the wood stove company’s statement is in breach of two sections of the Environmental Claims Code “as the advertiser did not provide any evidence to show that its claim was valid or supported by evidence.”
The second ruling involved climate claims made on the same webpage. Ad Standards described the issue:
This website promotes the advertiser’s wood heaters. On its 'Environmental Impact’ page, it states, 'Wood burning in a Clean Air Wood Heater does not contribute to the 'Greenhouse Effect'. If wood is left to naturally decay, consumed in a natural bush fire or burn in a wood heater, it emits similar levels of CO2. Clean Air manufacture slow combustion wood heaters that utilise low emissions into the atmosphere. That’s why people like yourself are making the right choice for now and the future with the purchase of a Clean Air Wood Heater.'
The regulator noted that, according to the complaint, there are “no reasonable grounds for the claim that ‘Wood burning in a Clean Air Wood Heater does not contribute to the Greenhouse Effect.’”
Ad Standards stated that the complaint had been supported by “several documents and studies” that pointed out, among other facts, that for an equal amount of heat or energy, burning wood emits more CO2 than oil or gas.
The complaint also noted that other countries are beginning to clamp down on advertising that promotes wood heaters as environmentally friendly or carbon neutral.
Again, the regulator found that the wood stove manufacturer provided no evidence to support these claims, and found their statements to be in breach of a section of the Environmental Claims Code.
Ad Standards noted that Clean Air Woodheaters have not yet responded to the code breach rulings.
