The European Parliament opened inter-institutional negotiations on the Green Claims Directive on Wednesday 4 December. The MEPs adopted this decision by 94 votes to 10, with 12 abstentions. The co-rapporteurs leading negotiations for Parliament are Delara Burkhardt (S&D, German) and Sandro Gozi (Renew Europe, Italian).
Presented in July 2020 (see EUROPE 12534/20) by the European Commission, this directive aims to tackle greenwashing by requiring companies to explain their claims concerning the environmental impact of their products and services.
The directive sets minimum requirements for the substantiation, communication and verification of explicit environmental claims. Any claim will have to be verified by independent experts before being published.
The European Parliament adopted its position on 12 March (see EUROPE 13147/6) and the Council on 17 June (see EUROPE 13433/5).
Whereas the Parliament wants to outlaw claims that assert “a neutral, reduced or positive impact of a product on the environment based on the use of carbon credits”, the Council wants to require companies making offset claims (of a share of emissions) to prove a goal of carbon neutrality and show progress towards decarbonisation. In addition, the Council wants to distinguish between contribution claims (to climate action) and compensation claims.
Both Parliament and the Council want to spare SMEs and micro-enterprises through measures designed to lighten their administrative burden and simplify the verification procedure, by exempting certain claims. (Original version in French by Florent Servia)