Today it is difficult for people to make sense of the many labels on the environmental performance of products and companies. In the EU, there are currently more than 200 sustainability labels in use! Some of these are not reliable. They can be misleading as companies can give a false impression of their environmental impacts or benefits – a practice known as ‘greenwashing’. A recent screening of sustainability claims in the textile, garment and shoe sector suggested that 39% of such claims could be false or deceptive.
So it is important that consumers are empowered to make sustainable choices. To do this, in March 2023 the EU proposed common criteria against greenwashing and misleading environmental claims. This initiative will oblige companies to prove their environmental claims, introduce common criteria to check these claims, and encourage the use of reliable ecolabels, such as the EU Ecolabel. It complements a proposal adopted in March 2022 to update EU consumer protection rules.
As a result, Europeans will be better informed about the environmental sustainability of products and better protected against false or misleading green claims. General environmental claims, such as “green”, “eco-friendly”, “good for the environment” will be banned. More specific claims like “this T-shirt is made out of 5 recycled plastic bottles” will only be allowed if there is solid evidence to support the claim. The new measures will increase the competitiveness of businesses making a genuine effort to improve the sustainability of their products, as they will be fairly recognised – and eliminate unfair competition from companies making misleading claims.