Stopping greenwashing: the EU tries with new rules
The EU strategy to curb misleading and pseudo-ecological marketing is taking shape with new directives. An end to unfounded claims about environmental impact and product durability, thanks to new certification schemes.
Putting a stop to the (rampant) spread of greenwashing. The issue has long been at the centre of attention in the debate on sustainability and the ecological transition, and many have been calling for decisive action by the EU authorities on this thorny question, since the fight against greenwashing is a battle to be tackled from at least a supranational perspective, if not a global one.
For some time now, consumers, public opinion and citizens’ protection associations have noticed the almost exponential increase in misleading marketing practices adopted by many companies regarding the environmental impact of their activities and products: declarations of intent that, in the light of the facts (and of the real quality of the products, or of the processing and production systems), turn out to be essentially unfulfilled, when not actually replaced by practices to the contrary.
Now the EU is finally taking action. 2024 began with the European Parliament’s approval of a new directive aimed at improving practices related to product labelling and curbing misleading environmental claims.
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Passed with 593 votes in favour, 21 against and 14 abstentions, the directive has already been dubbed the anti-greenwashing directive. Final approval by the Council is still pending: after that, Member States will have 24 months to transpose it into national law. Let us look at it in detail.
Improving the clarity and reliability of product labelling. Vague environmental terms and claims such as ‘environmentally friendly’, ‘natural’, ‘biodegradable’, ‘climate neutral’ or ‘eco’ are banned without documented evidence. In essence, environmental sustainability claims may only be used if ‘proven’ by official certification schemes or schemes established by public authorities in the EU. Nor will it be possible to state that a product has a neutral, reduced or positive impact on the environment thanks to emissions offsetting.
Ensuring the durability of goods and products. Information on the warranty will have to be more visible, to make consumers aware of the period during which they are entitled to request the repair of defective products at the seller’s expense. In this regard, there will be a new label for products with warranty periods longer than the two years established by EU law.
There will also be a stop to unsupported claims about durability. “The washing machine will last for 5,000 wash cycles” can no longer be written unless it is technically proven. Also banned are more or less explicit suggestions to replace consumables earlier than necessary.
In general, companies will have to be more transparent and unassailable in all claims about the repairability of products, including when they present as repairable products that in reality are not. The new directive does not travel alone. In the current EU policy to encourage sustainable consumption, it sits alongside the directive on green claims, still under discussion, which is also intended to better define the use of environmental claims in order to counter misleading marketing.
No less important is the work under way at EU level to introduce minimum design standards that make all products, or nearly all, truly sustainable, durable and ecological, as well as to guarantee consumers’ right to repair, that is, the repair of products.
