Measures taken against greenwashing

On 22 March, the European Commission came forward with a new consumer protection proposal to tackle greenwashing and prevent consumers from being misled. The proposals put forward by the Commission today aim to protect businesses and consumers from harmful green labelling practices and tackle the problem of the proliferation of labels. 

"We want to increase confidence in consumer choices and ensure that the scheme rewards companies that make a real effort to reduce their impact on nature, their dependence on resources, their environmental emissions and their polluting footprint. We should also promote the use of common, trusted labels such as the EU Ecolabel, which is a sign of environmental excellence in our single market."

(Virginijus Sinkevičius, Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries - 22/03/2023)

There are now many products on shop shelves that are positioned as environmentally friendly, and the 'green' label is now often used as a marketing ploy on packaging to give companies a competitive edge. Consumers do not have enough information and background knowledge to decide whether a label has real content or is just a nice sounding but unsubstantiated claim. A study by the European Commission in 2020 found that a significant proportion (53.3%) of environmental claims contain vague and misleading information about the environmental friendliness of the product, and 40% of the claims examined were unsubstantiated. 

Promoting informed consumer choice and preventing greenwashing was already part of the European Green Deal, as the "consumer vote" plays a major role in the transition to a more sustainable economy. The directive on the substantiation and communication of 'environmental claims (green claims)' now imposes even stricter conditions on the use of claims about the environmental impact or characteristics of a product or service.

It is important that the claim conveys to consumers reliable, comparable, and verifiable information that can be adequately substantiated by scientific evidence. Instead of general claims such as "environmentally friendly" or "made from recycled materials", it is recommended to use a more specific description such as "product made from 80% recycled PET bottles". Standardization of labelling and adherence to the proposed criteria would increase transparency and comparability of similar products based on the sustainability criteria.

The proposal for a directive specifically highlights "CO2 neutrality, net neutrality, climate neutrality..." whose actual impact is difficult to determine, since in many cases companies offset their emissions by buying carbon credits. Such offsets are difficult to track and measure, and in many cases do not take place in the company's supply chain, so they do not provide an incentive for the company to reduce its environmental footprint. In order to make a meaningful contribution to global climate change mitigation objectives, traders should focus on effective emission reductions in their own operations and value chains rather than relying on offsets. However, if they do opt for CO2 offsetting, it should be underpinned by methodologies that ensure the integrity and proper accounting of offsets, and thus reflect the resulting climate impact in a consistent and transparent manner.

It is proposed that companies should provide more detailed information on green claims on products in the official language of the Member State. This can be done by physically writing on the product or by using a QR code or web link.

In addition, the use of a sustainability label, that is not based on a certification scheme or not established by public authorities, is in all circumstances an unfair commercial practice. This means that the use of "self-certified" sustainability labels is prohibited where there is no third-party verification and regular monitoring of compliance with the basic requirements of the sustainability label.

The next step is that the proposal for these green claims must be approved by the European Parliament and the Council.

The HAEE and its member companies can help to avoid greenwashing and to move to a truly circular and sustainable way of doing business:https://szemleletformalas.kszgysz.hu/tanacsadas/

On the following six Thursdays, the „Cél a Zöldgazdaság” (The goal is the green economy) conference series will take place, including the current EU sustainability legislation:https://kszgysz.hu/szovetsegi-hirek/cel-a-zoldgazdasag

Source: 

• Enabling sustainable choices and ending greenwashing. (é. n.). [Text]. European Commission - European Commission. Elérés 2023. március 31., forrás https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_23_1692
• Proposal for a DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on substantiation and communication of explicit environmental claims (Green Claims Directive)

COM/2023/166 final. Elérés 2023. március 30., forrás

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52023PC0166&from=EN

• https://kszgysz.hu/szovetsegi-hirek/cel-a-zoldgazdasag
• https://szemleletformalas.kszgysz.hu/tanacsadas/
• https://kszgysz.hu/zoldgazdasag2021-tanulmany