The Green Claims Directive
The EU is tightening the requirements for what can be communicated as green and sustainable. The Green Claims Directive aims to prevent companies from making misleading statements about the environment and sustainability. This will protect both consumers from misrepresentation and businesses from unfair competition.
In March 2023, the European Commission presented a proposal for a directive on environmental claims. The proposal complements the directive on strengthening the role of consumers in the green transition by, among other things, introducing more specific rules on eco-labelling, in addition to a general ban on misleading marketing.
The Green Claims Directive will regulate environmental marketing and ensure the credibility of eco-labels and other environmental claims. This will make it easier for consumers to make more informed decisions when purchasing. At the same time, it will strengthen the competitiveness of companies working to develop more sustainable products.
Many eco-labels and environmental claims contribute to greenwashing
94% of Europeans think it is important to protect the environment, according to a survey by the European Commission. At the same time, other studies show that it is still difficult to make good environmental choices when choosing goods and services. For example, a 2020 study found that more than 50% of environmental claims were vague, misleading or unfounded, and 40% of claims were not substantiated at all.
Many eco-labels also contribute to greenwashing. When 232 active eco-labels in the EU were audited, almost half of them had no or only weak verification.
The aim of the directive is to prohibit greenwashing
With the Green Claims Directive, the intention is to clean up the environmental claims and ensure that all eco-labels meet a number of privacy requirements. The directive aims to ensure that consumers receive credible, trustworthy and verified environmental information about products.
The proposal for the Green Claims Directive will:
- Ensure that environmental claims are reliable and verified across the EU.
- Protect consumers from greenwashing.
- Contribute to creating a circular and green EU economy by empowering consumers to make informed choices when making purchases.
- Protect companies from unfair competition in terms of the environmental performance of products.
The proposal for the Green Claims Directive includes:
- Criteria for how companies should document their environmental claims and eco-labels.
- Requirements that statements and symbols that say something about the environment must be checked by an independent and accredited inspector.
- New rules for the management of eco-labelling schemes to ensure that they are robust, transparent and reliable.
- Prohibition of vague claims about environmental effects that cannot be substantiated and documented.
- Prohibition of environmental claims for the whole product if they apply only to parts of the product.
- Prohibition of symbols and marks that are not established by public authorities or that are based on a certification system that ensures an independent third-party verification of the product/service's compliance with the rules of the label.