Green Claims: Proposal for a Directive on substantiating environmental claims
date: 17/04/2023
With the proposed legislation, consumers will have more clarity, stronger reassurance that when something is sold as green, it actually is green, and better quality information to choose environment-friendly products and services. Businesses will also benefit, as those that make a genuine effort to improve the environmental sustainability of their products will be more easily recognised and rewarded by consumers and able to boost their sales – rather than face unfair competition. In this way, the proposal will help establish a level playing field when it comes to information about environmental performance of products.
According to the proposal, when companies choose to make a ‘green claim' about their products or services, they will have to respect minimum norms on how they substantiate these claims and how they communicate them. All voluntary claims about the environmental impacts, aspects or performance of a product, service or the trader itself are covered, with the exception of claims that are covered by existing EU rules, such as the EU Ecolabel or the organic food logo, because the current laws already ensure that these regulated claims are reliable.
Before companies communicate any of the covered types of ‘green claims' to consumers, such claims will need to be independently verified and proven with scientific evidence. As part of the scientific analysis, companies will identify the environmental impacts that are actually relevant to their product, as well as identifying any possible trade-offs, to give a full and accurate picture. The proposed rules will make sure that claims are communicated clearly.
The proposal will also regulate environmental labels. There are currently at least 230 different labels and there is evidence that this leads to consumer confusion and distrust. To control the proliferation of such labels, new public labelling schemes will not be allowed, unless developed at EU level, and any new private schemes will need to show higher environmental ambition than existing ones and obtain preapproval to be allowed. Detailed general rules about environmental labels are proposed: they must be reliable, transparent, independently verified, and regularly reviewed.