A German court has put its foot down over Apple's heavily-criticized claim that the Apple Watch is a carbon-neutral product, and the company may need to change its advertising very soon.

Apple first made its claim about carbon neutrality with the Apple Watch Series 9 back in 2023. Immediately, European environmental groups called it misleading, while a Chinese research organization described Apple's claim as "climate-washing."

Now according to Reuters, a regional court in Frankfurt, Germany, has ruled that Apple's claim is both unfounded, and in violation of competition law. The issue centers on Apple's offsetting carbon emissions through a Paraguay project where it plans eucalyptus trees on leased land.

But according to the court, that is insufficient because "there is no secure future for the continuation of the forest project." The court says that 75% of the project area is only contracted to Apple until 2029, with no guarantee of continuation after that.

The case was brought by Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH), which the organization translates as Environmental Action Germany. DUH is calling the ruling a victory against "greenwashing."

"Apple falsely gives the impression that its Apple Watches, which are advertised as CO2-neutral, have a balanced CO2 balance," said DUH Federal Managing Director Juergen Resch, in a statement. "This promise deceives consumers, because it is based on a carbon-indulgence scheme with an ineffective offsetting project."

In a statement to AppleInsider, an Apple spokesperson said that the company disagrees with the ruling, but also that overall the court supported its carbon neutrality work.

"We strongly disagree with the DUH's position, which runs counter to the EU's and Germany's climate strategy and widespread international scientific consensus that both emissions reductions and carbon removal are necessary to achieve global climate goals," said the spokesperson. "Our carbon neutral products are the result of industry-leading innovation in clean energy and low-carbon design to significantly reduce emissions, paired with investment in carefully selected nature-based projects. DUH's actions threaten to discourage the kind of credible corporate climate action the world needs."

"Importantly the Court has broadly upheld our rigorous approach to carbon neutrality," the spokeperson continued. "We remain laser focused on further reducing emissions by industry-leading innovation in clean energy, low-carbon design and more — work that has put us on track to achieve carbon neutrality throughout our entire supply chain by 2030."

What happens next

Apple does have the option to appeal the decision and it doubtlessly will. As yet, no court documents or further schedules are available publicly.

Consequently, it's not clear whether Apple will have to change its Apple Watch advertising claims in Germany before the appeal is heard.

But this is one of the first rulings in what are now a series of legal issues regarding the claim. The most recent before this is the February 2025 complaint filed in California by seven users of Apple Watch Series 9, Apple Watch SE, and Apple Watch Ultra 2.

Update August 8:40 AM ET: Updated with Apple's statement.