The U.K.’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) barred four retailers’ online ads on Nov. 11 after finding their delivery carbon claims did not explain the role of offsetting or emissions reductions to consumers.
The cases involved Grind Coffee Roasters Ltd (Grind), B Sporting Ltd, which trades as SportsShoes.com, Procook Ltd (ProCook) and Who Gives A Crap Ltd (Who Gives A Crap). Three paid search ads and one paid social media ad appeared in June 2026. Each described deliveries as carbon neutral or carbon positive.
The ASA found that the ads did not explain whether, or how much, the claims depended on offset credits, emissions reductions or carbon removal. Pages linked from the ads also did not set out the basis for the claims at the time. The regulator upheld complaints under CAP Code rules 3.1 and 3.3, which address misleading advertising, and rule 11.1, covering environmental claims. The decisions mean each company must change the reviewed promotion before running that version again.
The companies described different steps after the ASA’s review. Grind said a later review missed the search ad while it was replacing “carbon positive” with “carbon neutral,” and that it was working to clarify future references to delivery claims. Who Gives A Crap said its ad had stopped running by July and that it had added a link to an explanation on its website. ProCook said it had withdrawn the ad from an older campaign. SportsShoes.com said the ad was no longer in use and that relevant future ads would go to its environmental and business consultancy for approval before publication.
The ASA placed the cases within a wider review of carbon claims about deliveries. It said its work drew on information from investigations and Active Ad Monitoring, an artificial intelligence system that scans online ads for potential breaches of advertising rules.
