An End to Greenwashing in Europe?

The European Parliament has overwhelmingly approved a new directive that will require sustainability claims to be backed by third-party verification and restricts the use of ecolabels in European member states to those based on official certification schemes and scientific evidence.

Consumer products often carry ecolabels that imply sustainability. More than 450 different labels are used worldwide, and they do influence purchasing. A 2021 study found that 85% of UK consumers said they increased “green purchasing” over the last five years. However, some labels have limited credibility – they are not based on a scientifically robust assessment of the environmental impact of a product over its lifetime, and there is limited oversight from the organization that grants the label.  Once the new European Parliament directive has been transposed into national laws (within 24 months of final approval), only ecolabels based on official certification schemes or established by public authorities will be allowed in the EU. Any climate change-related claims made by manufacturers will need to be verified by a third-party expert with experience and competence in environmental issues, and based on the lifecycle impact of the product in question. Manufacturers will not be able to claim their products are ‘environmentally friendly’, ‘eco-friendly’, ‘green’, ‘energy efficient’, ‘biodegradable’, ‘biobased’, or similar statements without evidence.

The directive will ban claims that a product has a neutral, reduced, or even a positive environmental impact because of emissions offsetting schemes (many of which have been shown to have limited benefit). “Companies can no longer trick people by saying that plastic bottles are good because the company planted trees somewhere,” explained the Parliament’s rapporteur Biljana Borzan.

The directive also requires manufacturers to reveal the guaranteed durability of consumer products using a harmonized label and it prohibits marketing that suggests consumers need to replace items which don’t need replacing or could be repaired.