Overview   News

On the 12th of March, the European Parliament voted on the Green Claims Directive, regulating environmental marketing claims and enforcing a pre-approval process to reduce misleading information and boost consumer confidence in sustainable products. This directive requires companies to have their environmental claims such as "biodegradable" or "less polluting" pre-verified. Violations can lead to penalties, including exclusion from public procurement and fines of at least 4% of annual turnover. This significant measure aims to end greenwashing and create a fair competitive environment.

Dear EMAS Community, welcome back to the EMAS Newsletter in 2024! Enjoy its content and all the latest updates within and around our community. Wishing you a great start to the spring season!

Check out the latest news!

EMAS expands in Poland with the inclusion of Domel and Aneks Polska, celebrated at a Gala featuring expert insights on the new EU directive for corporate sustainable reporting.

Our heads are still buzzing with new ideas and inspired by all the newly gathered information from the Inter-institutional EMAS Days!

We are looking for EMAS companies in the healthcare sector to share ideas and solutions in the field of circular economy.

EFRAG has published two Exposure Drafts on sustainability reporting standards for SMEs and invites feedback until May 21st, 2024. EMAS stakeholders are encouraged to provide input, emphasizing the need to recognise EMAS Environmental Reporting in these standards.

This winter, the EMAS Helpdesk released a new success story featuring Epson Ibérica, a prominent manufacturer of printers and imaging equipment based in Spain. Epson Ibérica is renowned for its commitment to creating innovative, efficient, and precise products, all while prioritising sustainability practices as a central tenet of its philosophy.

In Romania, a series of seminars aims to improve information access and provide training on EMAS and the EU Ecolabel.

On 4th March, the Council presidency and the European Parliament’s representatives reached a provisional political agreement on a proposal for a regulation on packaging and packaging waste. The aim is to tackle the increase in packaging waste generated in the EU, while harmonising the internal market for packaging and boosting the circular economy.

On February 20th, the Commission welcomed a provisional agreement establishing the first EU-wide voluntary framework for the certification of high-quality carbon removals, enhancing the EU's ability to quantify, monitor, and verify carbon removal authenticity.

On February 14th, the Commission released the Annual Single Market and Competitiveness Report, tracking Europe's Single Market developments based on nine competitiveness drivers. One of these drivers is circularity. Europe is slowly progressing towards a more circular economy.

On the 1st March, the International Resource Panel (IRP) of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), published the 2024 edition of the Global Resources Outlook. The report brings together the best available data, modelling and assessments to analyze trends, impacts and distributional effects of resource use. It shows how demand for resources is expected to continue increasing in the coming decades.

April 9th, 2024, 10 am – 12 pm

The Committee of the Regions has adopted an opinion urging to accelerate the implementation of the European Green Deal in partnership with local and regional authorities to respond to the health threats arising from environmental pollution and the consequences of climate change.

The Committee of the Regions (CoR) has adopted an opinion on “A multilevel governance for the Green Deal. Towards the revision of the Governance Regulation,” proposing ideas for "Green Deal 2.0". The opinion emphasises engaging all stakeholders in Green Deal priorities, citing the success of the Zero Pollution Stakeholder Platform (ZPSP) co-chaired by the European Commission and the CoR. The CoR pledges ongoing support for the ZPSP and suggests its inclusion in "Green Deal 2.0" to sustain efforts towards achieving the Zero Pollution ambition for a toxic-free environment outlined in the European Green Deal.

On 26 October 2023, the Serbian National Assembly adopted amendments to the national Public Procurement Act. These are binding from 1 January 2024, and include the introduction of quality rather than price as a key criterion for selecting certain services/goods, and the principles of environmental protection in the awarding procurement, among others. This amendment is in line with the goals defined in the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans and its aim to promote the principle of environmental protection within the region.

La Clause Verte is an initiative created by the Center for the Deployment of Eco Transition in Companies and Territories (CD2E) to meet the needs of public buyers linked to the introduction of environmental clauses. The website offers a set of clauses and criteria for several product groups as well as good practices shared by contributors from different public authorities in France.

The Public Procurement Policy Unit in DG GROW has its official newsletter. In this gazette the audience will also find the ultimate source of news, events, funding opportunities, projects and regulations on public procurement from the European Commission. Subscribe now to the Public Procurement Gazette.

On the 7 of March from 14:00 to 15:30 CEST, the first EU GPP Helpdesk webinar of the year will take place on "Mainstreaming a profession: the Professionalisation of public procurement”. This webinar will focus on how public procurement can be professionalised and highlight examples across Europe of efforts in this sense. Don’t miss the webinar, join and find out the skills and knowledge that public procurers are developing in contracting authorities around Europe.