In a currently pending litigation, Austrian courts are dealing with the question of which processing steps are to be understood as part of the brewing process. Related to this is the question of whether the end-product beer can be advertised with the greenwashing claim "CO2 neutrally brewed".

Brau Union Austria advertises its Gösser beer with greenwashing claims, in particular "CO2 neutrally brewed", "we have been brewing 100% CO2 neutral since 2015" and "100% of the energy required for the brewing process comes from renewable energies". The Association for Consumer Information, on behalf of the Ministry of Social Affairs, challenged these claims on the grounds of inadmissibility under unfair competition law and sued for cease and desist. The Commercial Court of first instance confirmed the misleading of consumers due to these greenwashing claims. The judgement is not legally binding yet.

The point of contention in the lawsuit, and thus at the same time the decisive point, is what is meant by the process of brewing. The Association for Consumer Information justified the lawsuit by saying that the upstream and downstream production processes, especially the energy-intensive process of malting, are not carried out in a CO2 neutral way. The consumer, however, understands "brewing" to mean the entire production process of the beer and thus every process from the harvest onwards. Brau Union, on the other hand, is of the opinion that only the processing of water, hops and malt should be understood as part of the brewing process. From a technical point of view, the malting process is not part of the brewing process, which is why the claim "CO2 neutrally brewed" is admissible. The malt is not produced by Brau Union itself but is bought in from malting plants. And this malting process causes a considerable part of the CO2 pollution.

The legal dispute is going to the next instance - the final decision is eagerly awaited.