Key Impact Points:
- Fighting Greenwashing: New directive aims to ensure reliable, comparable, and verifiable environmental claims.
- Clear Standards: Sets minimum requirements for substantiation, communication, and verification of green claims.
- Consumer Protection: Addresses misleading claims, empowering consumers to make informed green choices.
The EU Council has adopted its position on the green claims directive to tackle greenwashing and aid consumers in making genuinely green decisions. A 2020 study revealed that over half of environmental claims are vague or misleading, prompting the directive to establish minimum requirements for substantiating and verifying these claims.
Scope
The directive targets explicit environmental claims and labels used by companies to market their products’ greenness. It applies to both public and private environmental labelling schemes, ensuring that claims are clear, evidence-based, and easy to understand.
Alain Maron, Minister of the Government of the Brussels-Capital Region, responsible for climate change, environment, energy, and participatory democracy, emphasized, “Today, we reached an important agreement to fight greenwashing by setting rules on clear, sufficient, and evidence-based information on the environmental characteristics of products and services. Our aim is to help European citizens make well-founded green choices.”
Verification and Simplification
All green claims must undergo third-party verification before publication. However, a simplified procedure exempts certain claims from this requirement if companies complete a technical compliance document. Microenterprises have an additional 14 months to comply.
Support for SMEs
To assist SMEs, including microenterprises, the directive includes support measures such as guidelines, tools, financial support, and training to reduce administrative burdens.
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Public Environmental Labels
Existing national or regional public labelling schemes may be exempt from third-party verification if they meet EU standards. EN ISO 14024 type 1 ecolabelling schemes recognized by a member state are also exempt.
Climate-Related Claims
The general approach introduces new requirements to prove climate-related claims, including those involving carbon credits.
Climate-related claims are often based on carbon credits generated outside the company’s value chain, for example from forestry or renewable energy projects. The general approach includes the obligation to provide information about the type and quantity of carbon credits, and whether they are permanent or temporary, among others.
The Council’s position also distinguishes between:
- contribution claims (carbon credits to contribute to climate action)
- offset claims (carbon credits to balance out an emissions share)
In offset claims, companies must prove a net-zero target and show progress towards decarbonisation, as well as the percentage of total greenhouse gas emissions that have been offset.
Next Steps
The Council’s position will guide negotiations with the European Parliament in the upcoming legislative cycle. The directive aligns with the European Green Deal’s goals to curb false environmental claims and achieve climate neutrality by 2050.
Background
The directive complements the 2023 directive on empowering consumers for the green transition, reflecting the EU’s commitment to a circular, clean economy. A Eurobarometer survey showed 90% of Europeans support stricter rules for environmental claims. This follows the approval of the directive aimed at empowering consumers for the green transition, highlighting the EU’s commitment to sustainable practices.
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