Eco-friendly claims in Singapore: what to ask a shop

Eco-friendly claims in Singapore are worth only as much as the detail and evidence behind them, and “energy-saving” is no different. The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCS) tells businesses that product claims should be true and accurate, clear and easily understood, meaningful, accompanied by material information and supportable by evidence, and it advises consumers to seek substantiation or credible user reviews before buying (CCS release, 6 October 2025). For regulated appliances, NEA’s energy label is the checkable alternative to a slogan.

This guide turns those principles into questions for a seller and decodes eight generic showroom claims, not any retailer’s wording. Our product demo guide separates what you observed from what you were told; this is a yardstick for the “told” part. General information from desk research, not legal advice.

What are CCS’s five principles for product claims?

CCS says it developed its Guide on Quality-Related Claims (page last updated 6 October 2025) after greenwashing concerns and recent enforcement. We did not open the guide’s PDF, so the principles below come from CCS’s release text only. We read them as guidance, not a legal test (our inference).

• True and accurate: verified before it is communicated, not misleading about why you need the product, reviewed periodically.
• Clear and easily understood: plain language, avoiding technical jargon and vague or overly broad statements or imagery.
• Meaningful: material attributes, not insignificant, standard or mandatory features; fair, substantiated comparisons.
• Accompanied by material information: sufficient substantiation, presented accessibly as early as possible, with assumptions, limits and conditions stated.
• Supportable by evidence: credible, valid, specific and up-to-date evidence; any ambition or goal made with the intention to achieve it and reasonably achievable.

How vague are eco-friendly claims online?

CCCS’s release of 16 November 2023 (CCCS is the same commission, abbreviated that way on its older pages) reported on a study it funded at the NUS Business School’s Centre for Governance and Sustainability. It reviewed environmental claims on over 1,000 products on the 100 e-commerce sites most visited by Singapore residents in October 2022. Based on the samples, 51 per cent of online product claims were vague and 14 per cent used technical language that was hard to understand or verify.

CCCS called words such as “environmentally friendly”, “eco-friendly”, “green”, “sustainable” and “natural” vague and prone to overstatement. Its examples: “environmentally friendly” for a product made of 10 per cent recycled material may mislead if it suggests 100 per cent, and “made of high-quality ABS eco-friendly material” is jargon that may confuse or mislead. But the study judged claims only from website information, and a claim backed by evidence would not amount to greenwashing. A vague claim is a reason to ask, not proof of anything.

Which CCS cases show misleading product claims in practice?

Three closed entries in CCS’s case register show the kinds of claim it has acted on. Each business gave an undertaking, and none of the entries describes its practices today.

• Screen refresh rate, 14 April 2022. An investigation revealed that Lenovo Singapore (on its website) and its former authorised reseller Want Join (in Lenovo LazMall flagship store listings) had made false or misleading claims about the screen refresh rate of certain Lenovo Legion Y540 gaming laptops (Lenovo case entry). A headline spec is a claim to test (our reading).
• Endorsement and suitability, 13 February 2025. CCCS raised concerns about OSIM’s product endorsement, product standards, suitability for specific consumers and pricing. The entry lists these steps: OSIM removed a “Stanford Medicine” logo from its promotional materials, gave greater disclosure of suitability information and ensured promotions reflected actual discounts (OSIM case entry). Our reading: a logo or an institution’s name works as an endorsement claim.
• False urgency, 8 December 2025. CCS found that PRISM+, a retailer of consumer electronics and home appliances, used fake countdown timers and misleading stock indicators; the problematic features also included unsubstantiated shortage claims and inflated discounts such as “Up to 67% off”. The entry also says Courts’ website added certain items to consumers’ carts without consent during certain promotions (PRISM+ and Courts case entry). Check the price, the stock claim and the basket.

What can NEA’s energy label tell you that a slogan cannot?

NEA’s Energy Label page (last updated 1 July 2026) says suppliers must affix the label once NEA has issued the model’s Certificate of Registration, and retailers may display only labelled models. Its consumer advisory covers household air-conditioners, refrigerators, clothes dryers, televisions and lamps.

The label shows ticks (one to five, from Low to Excellent), annual energy consumption in kWh, an annual energy cost and a registration number. The cost assumes, for a single-phase air-conditioner, 27 cents per kWh, 8 hours of daily use and 16 hours of standby; for a refrigerator, 27 cents and 24 hours a day. The label says “Actual energy consumption and cost may vary.” Online and other visual advertisements must show a legible label next to the product or, where that is not practical, state the tick rating and registration number.

How do I test an energy-saving or eco-friendly claim?

None of the official pages we read defines, registers or ranks “eco-friendly”, “best in class”, “medical-grade” or “lasts a lifetime”. Each line gives the CCS principles we think the claim tests (our mapping, not CCS’s), a question and where to check.

• “Eco-friendly” (or “green”, “sustainable”). Tests: clear; evidence. Ask: “Friendly in what respect, for what share of the product, and what is the evidence?” Prefer a percentage to an adjective; ask who certified it and for what. Check: the test report or certificate, then the issuer. No page we read defines the word, and the energy label shows nothing on recycled content or packaging (our reading).
• “Energy-saving”. Tests: meaningful (CCS says not to lean on mandatory features); material information. Ask: “Saving compared with what, measured how, under what use?” Check: the label for this exact model. Our reading: because suppliers must label regulated goods, “has an energy label” tells you little; the ticks and kWh do. See our minimum energy standards guide for the floors that already apply, our water heater guide for one appliance’s label, and our air conditioner size guide for sizing claims.
• “Up to 30% savings”. Tests: material information; fair comparisons. Ask: “Thirty per cent of what, against which model, and how many models reach it?” “Up to” names a best case, not a typical one (our reading). Check: annual kWh on labels of the same appliance type, which share one set of assumptions; for price, keep a log before the sale, as our price-log calendar suggests.
• “Best in class”. Tests: meaningful; true and accurate. Ask: “Which class, which rivals, which measure, as of what date?” Check: no page we read ranks products; compare ticks and kWh within one type.

An illustrative example, with invented figures that belong to no real label: air-conditioner X uses 600 kWh a year, Y 800 and Z 560. “Saves 25 per cent of the energy” is fair against Y (600 ÷ 800 = 0.75, so 200 kWh less) and does not hold against Z. At the label’s 27 cents per kWh, the gap to Y is S$54 a year (200 × 0.27); our energy label guide shows how to rescale to your own hours. A claim is only as good as its baseline.

How do I test a quality or performance claim?

• “Medical-grade”. Tests: true and accurate; evidence. Ask: “Graded by whom, against what standard, and is it suitable for me?” Check: no page we read defines or registers the wording; ask the body the seller names. The OSIM entry above concerns a logo and suitability disclosure, not this phrase.
• “HEPA-type”. Tests: clear; true and accurate. Ask: “A HEPA filter or only something similar, and what is the smoke CADR for my room?” Check: NEA’s air pollution FAQs (last updated 17 October 2026) prefer highly efficient filters such as HEPA for fine particles in haze and advise a smoke CADR of at least 3 times the room’s volume in cubic metres. They add that many effective purifiers have no CADR rating and that users should obtain manufacturer information backing any fine-particle claim. That “-type” can blur the distinction is our reading. See our air purifier guide.
• “Lasts a lifetime”. Tests: clear; material information. Ask: “Whose lifetime, which parts, and is it in the written warranty, with its duration, exclusions and who honours it?” Check: the written warranty; no page we read defines the phrase.
• A headline spec number (refresh rate, speed, battery life). Tests: true and accurate; material information. Ask: “Is it for this exact model and setting, and where is it in the maker’s specification sheet?” Check: IMDA’s labelling requirements (Version 3, October 2020) say the “Complies with IMDA Standards” label on telecommunication equipment indicates compliance with IMDA’s published standards, compatibility with Singapore’s public telecommunication networks and no radio frequency interference to other authorised radio-communication networks. They do not mention speed or battery claims, so the label cannot confirm a headline number (our reading). See our phone or router overseas guide.

What to check before you buy

1. Screenshot the claim and where it appears, with the date.
2. Put the questions above to the seller, in writing if you can, and ask for the evidence and the assumptions behind any percentage. For a regulated appliance, find the label for the exact model and compare its ticks and annual kWh with same-type models.
3. Do not let a countdown timer or an “only a few left” banner hurry you; check your basket before paying.
4. If answers stay vague, walk away or report it. CCS’s releases point consumers to the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE, 6277 5100) and, for misleading advertisements, the Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore (ASAS). For a regulated appliance with no label or registration, NEA asks for an email to NEA_energylabel@nea.gov.sg.

Related: faulty purchase action plan, consumer rights guide and trying topic.

Common questions