Proposals to fight greenwashing
Common anti-greenwashing criteria has been proposed by the European Commission.
The criteria against greenwashing and misleading environmental claims aims to give consumers more clarity and reassurance that a 'green' product can be trusted.
They say that businesses will also benefit as those that are genuinely improving their environmental sustainability will be recognised and rewarded for iit.
Their 2020 study highlighted that 53.3% of examined environmental claims in the EU were found to be vague, misleading or unfounded - with 40% unsubstatiated.
The proposal would require companies to respect minimum norms on how they can substantiate and communicate any claims.
Accordingly, explicit claims would be targeted, along with the proliferation of environmental labels. Claims covered by existing EU rules, would however, be excluded.
