Summary of the European Commission's proposal on green claims of 23/03/2023

The summary is based on the Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the substantiation and communication of explicit environmental claims (Green Claims Directive) of March 22, 2023.

What role can consumers play in accelerating the green transition?

The European Commission has committed itself to objectives designed to guarantee :

• that consumers have the means to make better-informed choices and play an active role in the ecological transition;
• that buyers receive reliable, comparable and verifiable information to enable them to make more sustainable decisions and reduce the risk of greenwashing.

What are the obstacles to the development of green markets in the EU?

The main obstacles facing consumers are :

• The practice of greenwashing (consumers are becoming suspicious of all ecological claims)

Another study by the consumer protection cooperation authorities showed that of the 344 sustainability claims assessed, the authorities considered that in over half the cases (57.5%), the trader had not provided sufficient evidence to judge the accuracy of the claim. In many cases, the authorities found it difficult to determine whether the claim covered the entire product or just a single component (50%), whether it referred to the company or only to certain products (36%), and which stage of the product life cycle it covered (75%).

• The use of environmental labels that are not always transparent and credible

As part of a preparatory study aimed at gathering initiatives to enable consumers to play an active role in the ecological transition, an evaluation of 232 eco-labels used in the EU was carried out. The study revealed that almost half of label controls were either weak or non-existent. 34% of companies identified the "proliferation and/or lack of transparency/understanding/reliability of sustainability logos/labels" as an obstacle. as an obstacle.

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The main objectives of the proposal on environmental claims are :

1. "Increase the level of environmental protection and help accelerate the green transition to a circular, clean and climate-neutral economy in the EU."
2. "Protect consumers and businesses from greenwashing and enable consumers to help accelerate the ecological transition by making informed** purchasing decisions based on credible environmental claims and labels."
3. "Improve legal certainty with regard to environmental claims and a level playing field in the internal market, boost the competitiveness of economic operators striving to increase the environmental sustainability of their products and activities, and create cost-cutting opportunities for these operators trading across borders."

Stakeholder consultations

An open public consultation on the Green Claims initiative was carried out between August 27 and December 3, 2020, during which 362 contributions were made. Several statements were made:

• Some trade associations have suggested the use of independent certification/verification organizations operating to ISO14025.
• Large companies have stressed that the EU framework should allow flexibility in the means of communication used to make declarations.
• Environmental NGOs have pointed out that single environmental scores should never be used as a means of concealing compromises, and should be avoided.
• Consumer NGOs also indicated that environmental claims could be supported by existing tools such as Type 1 ecolabels , Eco Lighthouse, EMAS and ISO14001.
• Some public authority representatives felt that it should be possible to substantiate claims with "official" ecolabels such as Nordic Swan and EU Ecolabel. Public authorities slightly prefer independent certification and verification.
• As far as citizens are concerned, independent certification/verification by accredited bodies is the preferred option.

Impact analysis

Measures have been identified to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of EU rules on environmental claims:

• setting up a verification mechanism,
• the use of aggregate environmental impact scores should be limited to environmental claims,
• exclude micro-businesses,
• effectively limit the proliferation of environmental labels.

Requirements for communicating environmental claims

All claims :

• "address only those environmental impacts, aspects or performances which are assessed in accordance with the justification requirements set out in this proposal and which are considered significant for the product or professional concerned" ;
• "where relevant to the claim being made, it includes information on how consumers can use the product appropriately to reduce environmental impact " ;
• "are accompanied by evidence and justification".

The proposal itself included (in relation to LCA):

16 "The assessment carried out to support explicit environmental claims must take into account the entire life cycle of the product** or the operator's activities as a whole, and must not omit any relevant environmental aspect or impact. The benefits claimed must not result in an unjustified transfer of negative impacts to other stages of a product's or professional's life cycle, nor in the creation or increase of other negative environmental impacts."

24 "EF methods can be used to support explicit environmental claims for specific life-cycle environmental impacts covered by the methods, provided they are comprehensive on impacts relevant to the product category and do not omit significant environmental impacts. The methods cover environmental impacts, including climate change and impacts related to water, air, soil, resources, land use and toxicity".

26 "In addition, there is as yet no reliable method for assessing the life-cycle environmental impacts associated with the release of microplastics."

28 "When establishing requirements for the communication of explicit environmental claims, including by means of delegated acts adopted by the Commission, account should be taken of the difficulties that operators may encounter in gathering information from actors along their value chain or on the overall life cycle of the product, in particular when scientific evidence is insufficient."

What has already been adopted (in relation to LCA and environmental display)?

Article 5 "Communication of explicit environmental claims".

"Where the explicit environmental claim relates to a final product and the use phase is one of the most important life cycle stages of that product, the claim shall include information on how the consumer should use the product in order to achieve the environmental performance expected of that product. This information shall be made available at the same time as the claim."

Article 7 "Environmental labels

"Only environmental labels awarded as part of environmental display systems established under Union law may present an evaluation or rating of a product or professional on the basis of an aggregate indicator of the environmental impact of a product or professional."

⚠️ To find out more about environmental labelling, read our article here 🏷️🌿

Some additional documents consulted:

• New Circular Economy Action Plan
• New Consumer Agenda
• Green Deal Industrial Plan
• Article 114 of the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), which applies to measures aimed at establishing or ensuring the functioning of the internal market, while taking as a base a high level of environmental protection.

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Would you like to develop your business in line with the European Commission's proposals, avoid greenwashing and be ready for the entry into force of environmental labelling?

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