Greenwashing refers to a marketing practice where corporations attempt to capitalize on the growing movement for environmentally friendly products by selling goods labeled as green, which in fact are not.
Andrew Aitchison | in photos | Getty’s paintings
The EU has unveiled recent measures to stop corporations from making unsubstantiated environmental claims about their products, warning corporations that fines of not less than 4% of their annual revenue for “green laundry” could soon be imposed.
European Commission, the chief body of the EU, published its so-called “Green Claims Directive” on Wednesday. The long-awaited proposal goals to ascertain an EU-wide methodology to assist clean up the marketplace for environmental claims.
The directive is subject to approval by the European Parliament and the Council before it enters into force.
The EU says it hopes to offer consumers with greater transparency in order that a services or products marketed as green could be confident that it’s indeed environmentally friendly.
Currently, most green claims are too good to be true and the proposal is… removed from a real (green) deal.
Margaux le Gallou
manager of the environmental information and assessment program on the Environmental Coalition for Standards
Nevertheless, the proposals have received mixed reactions from consumer and environmental groups.
Campaigners have widely welcomed the push to curb the burgeoning corporate greenwashing trend, but say months-long lobbying efforts “significantly watered down“a directive to such an extent that the measures are currently too vague to sufficiently address the issue.
They called on the European Parliament and the Council to enhance the proposals so that they’re “price it” for consumers and businesses.
What’s greenwashing?
Greenwashing refers to a marketing practice where corporations attempt to capitalize on the growing movement for environmentally friendly products by selling goods labeled as green, which in fact are not.
It is a major problem in the EU. For instance, commission test published in 2020 found that greater than half (53%) of green product and repair claims were found to be unclear, misleading or unsubstantiated, and 40% were unsubstantiated.
Some phrases that customers could have turn into accustomed to when purchasing goods include “environmentally friendly”, “ethical” or “sustainable”.
The Commission says around 230 different environmental labels are used in the bloc of 27, citing evidence that this results in confusion and distrust amongst consumers.
What does the EU’s “Green Claims Directive” contain?
The EU’s “Green Claims Directive” goals to counter this trend.
The proposal is alleged to be sure that claims are made clear to the good thing about consumers and businesses, noting that corporations making an actual effort to enhance the environmental sustainability of their products ought to be more easily recognized and thus capable of increase sales.
The Commission says the measures goal explicit claims akin to “CO2 offset delivery”, “30% recycled plastic packaging” or “ocean friendly sunscreen”.
Nevertheless, it does not include terms akin to “carbon neutrality”, advocacy groups saidnoting that that is the popular marketing strategy for corporations looking to present their products a “green makeover”.
“This proposal is a large missed opportunity to send a powerful signal to corporations that the EU takes its corporate responsibility for climate seriously,” said Lindsay Otis, climate expert on the EU.
“The Commission appears to grasp the issues posed by greenwashing, but refuses to adequately address them,” Otis said. “It’s now as much as the European Parliament and the Council to pass a ban on carbon neutral claims, because anything below that can not only fail to guard consumers, it would also not push corporations towards truly sustainable practices.”
“With this proposal, we give consumers the arrogance that when something is marketed as green, it is definitely green,” said Frans Timmermans, Executive Vice President, European Green Deal.
Anadolu Agency | Anadolu Agency | Getty’s paintings
The EU says that before corporations provide any of the sorts of environmental claims covered, they need to first be independently verified and backed up by scientific evidence. EU Member States would control the establishment of a verification process overseen by independent bodies.
Corporations based outside the EU that make green claims geared toward consumers of the bloc can even need to comply with the directive.
“Green pledges are in all places: ocean-friendly T-shirts, carbon-neutral bananas, bee-friendly juices, 100% CO2-compensated deliveries and so on,” said Frans Timmermans, Executive Vice President of the European Green Deal.
“Unfortunately, all too often these claims are made with none evidence or substantiation,” he added. “With this proposal, we’re giving consumers the reassurance that when something is marketed as green, it is definitely green.”
The Commission says the proposal excludes claims which are covered by existing EU laws, akin to the EU Ecolabel or organic food logo.
What was the reply?
Margaux Le Gallou, program manager for environmental information and assessment on the non-profit Environmental Coalition on Standards, said that “fighting against misleading environmental claims is critical to providing consumers with reliable information and enabling them to make sustainable selections.” .
“Unfortunately, without harmonized methodologies at EU level, the brand new directive will not provide much clarity to consumers and businesses, but will only complicate the work of market surveillance authorities. Without delay, most green claims are too good to be true, and the proposal is… removed from an actual (green) deal,” Le Gallou added.
Others were more optimistic in regards to the potential impact of the measures proposed by the Commission.
The proposals will “help provide clearer language, common governance criteria and minimum requirements to speak corporate climate motion in an authentic, credible way,” said Isabel Hagbrink, director of climate change at the corporate.
“We hope this, in turn, will help encourage larger and more real corporate climate ambitions,” Hagbrink told CNBC via email. “With our decade of motion now in full swing, and climate scientists once more raising the alarm, we simply cannot afford anyone – especially the leaders of enormous corporations – to stay silent about their climate efforts.” she added.