The EU Commission has made a proposal for common guidelines against misleading environmental claims on products. The Commission wants to take action against the growing number of eco-labels and create more clarity for consumers regarding the actual sustainability of products.
The proposal will give consumers greater clarity and certainty that something that is sold as environmentally friendly is actually environmentally friendly, and they are better informed. This will also bring benefits for companies, as it will be easier to recognise which companies are making real efforts to improve the environmental compatibility of their products.
According to a study conducted by the Commission in 2020 53.3 per cent of audited environmental claims in the EU as vague, misleading or unsubstantiated and 40 per cent were not substantiated. As there are no common regulations on voluntary environmental claims by companies, so-called green claims, this leads to greenwashing and creates an uneven playing field on the EU market, which puts truly sustainable companies at a disadvantage.
According to the proposal, companies that make voluntary environmental claims about their products or services must, Comply with minimum standards. These relate both to how these statements are to be substantiated and to how they are communicated.
The proposal is aimed at explicit advertising statements, such as: „T-shirt made from recycled plastic bottles“, „climate-neutral shipping“, „packaging made from 30 per cent recycled plastic“ or „ocean-friendly sun protection“. In addition, action is to be taken against the increasing number of public and private eco-labels. The proposal covers all voluntary advertising claims about the environmental impact, aspects or performance of products, services and traders themselves.
However, environmental claims that fall under existing EU regulations, such as the EU Ecolabel or the EU organic logo for organic food, are excluded.
Before companies include any of the types of environmental claims in question in their consumer information, they must Information to be independently verified and substantiated by scientific evidence in future are analysed. As part of a scientific analysis, the companies will determine the environmental impacts that are actually relevant to their product, as well as any conflicting objectives.
In future, several regulations will ensure that this information is communicated appropriately. For example no longer be permitted to use advertising claims or labels that provide a blanket assessment of the overall environmental impact of the product. unless required by EU regulations. Where products or organisations are compared with others, such comparisons should be based on equivalent information and data.
The proposal also provides for a regulation for eco-labels. There are currently at least 230 different labels. In order to control the proliferation of such labels new public labelling schemes will only be permitted if they are developed at EU level. become. New private systems will have to prove that their environmental targets are more ambitious than those of existing systems. They must also be authorised in advance. There are detailed rules on eco-labelling in general: they must also be reliable, transparent, independently audited and regularly reviewed.
Following the ordinary legislative procedure, the proposal for a „Green Claims“ Directive must now be approved by the European Parliament and the Council.
Source: EU Commission
