Environment

The Green Consumption Pledge

On 25th January 2021, the European Commission launched the pilot phase of its new Green Consumption Pledge initiative, which aims to increase the sustainability of production and consumption through voluntary cooperation with (non-food) businesses. EMAS registered organisations already fulfil parts of the requirements needed and are therefore well-suited as initiative participants.

The Green Consumption Pledge is part of the European Climate Pact. It calls for businesses in various sectors of the economy to undertake concrete, public and verifiable commitments to reduce their overall carbon footprint, to produce and market more sustainable products and to redouble their efforts to raise consumers' awareness of the impact of their consumption choices. Colruyt Group, Decathlon, LEGO Group, L'Oréal and Renewd are the first companies to sign the pledge in its pilot phase. The pledges have been developed in a joint effort between the Commission and companies and can be accessed here.

EMAS and the Green Consumption Pledge

Any company from the non-food sectors as well as companies in the retail sector selling both food and non-food products interested in joining the Green Pledge can contact the European Commission before the end of March 2021.

To join, companies must take concrete action on at least three out of five core commitments and demonstrate their progress through transparently published data. The core commitments are:

  1. Calculate the carbon footprint of the company, including its supply chain, using the Organisation Environmental Footprint method or EMAS, and implement appropriate due diligence processes towards achieving footprint reductions in line with objectives of the Paris Agreement.
  2. Calculate the carbon footprint of selected flagship products of the company, using the Product Environmental Footprint method, reduce the footprint for the selected products and disclose the progress to the public.
  3. Increase the sale of sustainable products or services within the total sales of the company or its selected business part.
  4. Commit to spending a proportion of public relations expenditure on promoting sustainable products and services.
  5. Ensure that information related to the carbon footprint of the company and its products is easily accessible, accurate, clear and regularly updated.

The pilot phase of the Green Consumption Pledge will be completed by January 2022. Before next steps are taken, an evaluation of the functioning of the Pledge will be conducted in consultation with participating companies, relevant consumer organisations and other stakeholders.

For further information: