By CTCP

June 2024

Have you ever heard of greenwashing?
Are consumers aware of this reality?
What about companies?

Today, we live in an age where we are constantly bombarded with advertising information that seduces us into buying products and/or services that we often don't need or that don't correspond to what was intended. And if properly sensitised, made aware and informed, we could choose not to buy them. As such, consumers are often duped by misleading commercial practices which, through actions or the lack of them, lead to ill-informed consumer decisions based on inadequate information. This scenario is exacerbated by the phenomenon of "greenwashing", when companies promote themselves or their products as environmentally responsible and sustainable, when in reality their actions do not correspond to these claims. This behaviour not only represents an ethical challenge, but also an obstacle for consumers seeking to make more conscious and sustainable choic-es. With increasing scrutiny from the public and regulators, it is becoming essential for companies to adopt a stance of transparency, ensuring that their actions are in line with the environmental commitment they pro-claim.

According to data from the European Commission, 53% of green claims provide vague, misleading or unfound-ed information, 40% of green information on the European market cannot be factually verified and there are 230 sustainability labels and 100 green energy labels in the European Union, with very different levels of trans-parency.

In this context, the EU has taken significant measures to combat the problem of greenwashing. On 26 March, Directive (EU) 2024/825 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 February came into force, amending Directives 2005/29/EC and 2011/83/EU with regard to empowering consumers for the green transi-tion through better protection against unfair practices and better information. This new legislation aims to pro-tect consumers from misleading information and ensure that they are empowered to make better decisions and actively participate in the green transition. This new directive prohibits generic and unfounded environmental claims, such as "environmentally friendly", "carbon neutral", "natural", "biodegradable", among others, with-out concrete evidence to back them up. Such claims should only be allowed if they are based on the real-life cycle impacts of the product in question and not on offsetting greenhouse gas emissions outside the product's value chain, since they are not equivalent. However, such a ban should not prevent companies from publicising their investments in environmental initiatives, including carbon credit projects, as long as they make this infor-mation available in a way that is not misleading and complies with the requirements laid down in EU law.

Another phenomenon that has occurred is the significant increase in the number and diversity of sustainability labels, which makes it difficult to compare data and causes confusion among consumers. As such, this proposal recognises the need to standardise official certification systems, established by public authorities, which will become mandatory within the European Union. Strict monitoring mechanisms are proposed to ensure compli-ance with the regulations, conducted by an independent third party whose competence and impartiality are guaranteed by recognised international standards, such as ISO 17065, among others.

Another important aspect of this new directive is the fight against premature obsolescence, including pro-grammed premature obsolescence practices, understood as a commercial policy involving the deliberate plan-ning or design of a product with a limited useful life so that it becomes prematurely obsolete or non-functional after a certain period or intensity of use. In this way, the EU wants to ensure that products are durable and re-pairable, thereby encouraging a longer life cycle for consumer goods. Information about the warranty and repa-rability of products must be clearly communicated to consumers before purchase and there will be a new har-monised label to highlight products with an extended warranty period.

In short, it is essential to recognise the importance of legislation like this in combating greenwashing and pro-moting more transparent and responsible commercial practices. The proposed new directive aims not only to protect consumers from misleading information, but also to encourage more sustainable consumer choices in line with environmental values. Furthermore, it is essential to emphasise that this legislation will be integrated with the Green Claims Directive, currently being discussed in parliamentary committee, with the aim of estab-lishing more specific conditions for the use of environmental claims.

This article has covered some of the main objectives and measures proposed by the European Union to combat greenwashing and promote more transparent and sustainable commercial practices. However, it is important to emphasise that the legislative text in question may cover a wider range of aspects and objectives that have not been covered in greater detail in this article. For a more comprehensive understanding of the provisions and implications of this legislation, the CTCP invites you to take a closer look HERE.