Companies have until the end of the year to stop making misleading claims about the green credentials of their products and services or face regulatory action, the U.K.’s competition watchdog warned Monday.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is concerned “too many businesses are falsely taking credit for being green” in an attempt to appeal to environmentally minded customers, “while genuinely eco-friendly firms don’t get the recognition they deserve.”

Neil Hodge is a freelance business journalist and photographer based in Nottingham, United Kingdom. He writes on insurance and risk management, corporate governance, internal audit, compliance, and legal...