Green claims

Background

Claims that companies make about the environmental performance of their products and services can be misleading, and European consumers have been found to have very little trust in them. Consumers are also increasingly confused by the multitude of green labels on the market. At the same time, they are more and more aware of the need to buy sustainably and ready to do so.

To protect consumers against greenwashing, in March 2023 the European Commission put forward a directive which aims to make environmental labels and claims credible and trustworthy and to enable consumers to make informed purchasing decisions. The directive is expected to help create a circular and green economy in the EU and should make businesses offering more sustainable products and services more competitive.

Key points

Overall, the EESC sees the directive as a major step forward. It lays down rules on how to back up green claims and how to verify the supporting evidence, and puts in place a system of verifiers who will need to go and check that the data provided by companies actually reflect their claims.

However, the EESC asks the Commission to:

• ensure that the requirements of the directive are reflected in sectoral legislation. The Green Claims Directive should be a model for a minimum level of protection against greenwashing, with no way to opt out of its provisions, introduce loopholes or reduce consumer protection via sectoral legislation;
• ban claims based on offsetting. Several consumer authorities and a number of court cases have found environmental claims based on compensation via offsetting credits ("climate-neutral", "plastic-compensated", etc.) to be scientifically incorrect and always misleading to consumers;
• define common methodologies to substantiate different types of claims, so that verifiers in the Member States have clear rules to apply in similar ways across Europe. This is to avoid companies dodging obligations by going to Member States where verifiers are laxer in checking claims;
• ensure that microenterprises are included in the checks carried out by Member States. While they are understandably excluded from some of the provisions as it would be too burdensome for them to invest time and resources in gathering the information and going through the verification process, no companies should feel that they are allowed to mislead consumers.

Link to full opinion

Additional information

EESC section responsible: Single Market, Production and Consumption (INT)

Opinion type: mandatory Commission referral

Rapporteur: Angelo Pagliara (Workers – Italy)

Reference: COM(2023) 166 final 2023/0085 COD

Date of adoption by section: 02/06/2023

Result of the vote: 67 votes in favour and one against, with two abstentions

Date of adoption by plenary: 1../06/2023

Outcome of the vote: 205 votes in favour and two against, with three abstentions

Contacts

Press officer

Tel.: + 32 2 546 8422 | Mob: +32 475 99 94 32

email: daniela.marangoni@eesc.europa.eu

Policy officer

Tel.: +32 2 546 8378

email: silvia.staffa@eesc.europa.eu