BERLIN, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Apple ( AAPL ) can no longer advertise

its Apple Watch as a "CO2-neutral product" in Germany, following

a court ruling on Tuesday that sided with environmentalists in

finding that the U.S. tech company had misled consumers.

Apple ( AAPL ) had promoted the device online as "our first

CO2-neutral product", a claim found by a panel of judges to be

unfounded and in violation of German competition law, according

to a statement from a regional court in Frankfurt.

Apple ( AAPL ) declined to comment on the ruling, which can be

appealed.

Apple ( AAPL ) based its claim of carbon neutrality on a project it

operates in Paraguay to offset emissions by planting eucalyptus

trees on leased land.

However, the Frankfurt court said that leases for 75% of the

project area were not secured beyond 2029 and that the company

could not guarantee these contracts would be extended.

"There is no secure future for the continuation of the

forest project," the statement said.

Environmentalist group Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH), which

brought the case against Apple ( AAPL ), hailed the ruling as a success

against "greenwashing".

"The supposed storage of CO2 in commercial eucalyptus

plantations is limited to just a few years, the contractual

guarantees for the future are not sufficient and the ecological

integrity of monoculture areas is not guaranteed," DUH head

Juergen Resch said in a statement.