EU Commission Proposal for a Directive on substantiation and communication of explicit environmental claims

The European Green Deal sets out Europe’s intention to become a world leader in the circular economy and make Europe a climate neutral continent by 2050. The new Circular Economy Action Plan announces several actions to establish a strong and coherent product policy framework and to empower consumers. Fighting greenwashing is identified as a priority to ensure that consumers and other market actors receive reliable, comparable, and verifiable information. Currently, there are no sufficiently detailed rules on the substantiation of environmental claims. As a result, there are far too many products on the EU market with misleading green claims. Quoting the EU Commission: "53% of green claims contain vague, misleading or unsubstantiated information”. The applicable rules of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive 2005/29/EC and the Misleading and Comparative Advertising Directive 2006/114/EC are not sufficient to establish uniform requirements for environmental claims and to ensure their proper enforcement.

Consequently, a multitude of voluntary environmental claims and labels exist within the EU. Most of them are poorly defined, explained and understood, and determined by non-comparable methods to measure and assess environmental impacts. “Recyclable packaging”, “produced in a bee-friendly manner”, “climate-neutral production” or “from responsible sources” are just some of the numerous claims adorning a growing number of food products, electrical devices, textile products and even services. Few of these claims are actually verified by an accredited independent conformity assessment body. That makes it difficult for consumers, businesses, investors, and public administrations alike to identify actual trustworthy environmental claims. Furthermore, it impedes the dissemination of truly green products and thus the development of a circular and green economy.

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