The Council adopted its position (‘general approach’) on the green claims directive, which aims to address greenwashing and help consumers make truly greener decisions when buying a product or using a service.

Consumers need reliable, comparable and verifiable environmental claims in order to make fully informed decisions. However, a 2020 study found that more than half of the environmental claims offer vague, misleading or unfounded information.

The directive sets minimum requirements for the substantiation, communication and verification of explicit environmental claims. This new proposal specifically targets explicit environmental claims (written or oral text) and environmental labels that companies use voluntarily when marketing their greenness and which cover the environmental impacts, aspects or performance of a product or trader. It also applies to existing and future environmental labelling schemes, both public and private ones.

The general approach draws a distinction between explicit environmental claims and environmental labels, in order to clearly specify the obligations applicable to each, including which requirements apply to both.

Further information: HERE