ECOS | Environmental Coalition on Standards

News & events

  • 12 March 2024

    Join our call for an EU Directive on Sustainable Resource Management

    There is a crucial gap in current EU law. Resource overconsumption is not being addressed, even though it is predicted to continue rising. The need for an EU Directive on Sustainable Resource Management – with science-based and overarching reduction targets for resource use – has never been clearer.

  • 11 March 2024

    Join the ECOS team! – Fundraising & Grants Officer

    We are looking for a highly motivated Fundraising and Grants Officer to support ECOS strategic development, with a particular focus on grant management.

  • 07 March 2024

    Cooking appliances: EU could clear the air with new ecodesign rules

    By Fernando Tartaglia
    By Alison Grace

    The European Commission is reviewing its regulations for domestic cooking appliances, some of the most polluting products in our homes. Responsible for poor indoor air quality, public health risks, and carbon emissions, home cooking appliances that use gas must be eradicated – for our health and for our planet. The EU could make this happen using ecodesign. Here’s how.

  • 05 March 2024

    It is time for the EU to clean up heating

    By Alison Grace
    By Marco Grippa

    Heating and cooling accounts for a staggering 80% of energy used in EU households – with 75% of that coming from fossil fuels. This pollutes as much as all the cars in the EU combined. There are solutions at our fingertips, but policymakers must step up and deliver on climate targets. Here’s how.

  • 04 March 2024

    Reading the small print: European Commission prepares the ground for more sustainable printers

    By João Antonucci Rezende
    By Mathieu Rama
    By Alison Grace

    Ambitious laws begin with ambitious goals. To lessen the negative environmental impacts of printers and cartridges, laws must be designed with sustainability as a priority. In its new preparatory study on ecodesign possibilities for printers and cartridges, the European Commission has created a solid starting point for what could become impactful ecodesign requirements – but improvements are needed.

  • 01 March 2024

    Call for tenders – Customer Relations Management

    ECOS seeks to subcontract a company to set up and ensure the maintenance of a CRM (customer relationship management) tool as outlined in the scope and output of this tender document.

  • 19 February 2024

    Buy better to build better: Green public procurement can unlock sustainable construction

    By Tudor Cherhat

    Construction products are one of the most significant contributors to environmental damage with an annual carbon footprint of 250 million tonnes in the EU. This is equivalent to the electricity use of nearly 500 million homes in a single year. Beyond emissions, construction products account for half of the EU's total material consumption and contribute to about one-third of the bloc's annual waste output.

  • 29 February 2024

    ECOS Newsletter – February 2024

    Construction and infrastructure projects have a huge environmental impact. Bringing this sector back within planetary boundaries needs a great number of initiatives to work hand in hand. In the EU, a lot still needs to be done to make the framework fit for purpose.

  • 20 February 2024

    ECOS Newsletter – January 2024

    January has by no means been a slow start to 2024! We’re happy to announce that ECOS is now also present in Nairobi, Kenya, working to expand our global perspective and collaboration. This month we’ve also already seen exciting new steps in the EU to curb the proliferation of misleading or unverifiable greenwashing claims on products. Looking ahead to the rest of this year, we have shared the 2024 ECOS Work Programme outlining our five environmental priorities: clean energy, industrial decarbonisation, circular economy, environmental transparency, and nature health.

  • 20 December 2023

    ECOS Newsletter – December 2023

    It’s been another busy year for standards and environmental policy. At ECOS, we took on new challenges, expanded our work programme, and grew the team and network – with our impact set to continue into 2024. Read some highlights from the last 12 months in our end-of-year blog. December saw an important milestone for ECOS - as the final negotiations on EU ecodesign rules came to a close, this marked the end of more than four years since we first called for ecodesign principles to apply across all sectors. Strong ecodesign legislation in the EU will send positive impacts across global value chains.

  • 30 November 2023

    ECOS Newsletter – November 2023

    Plastic pollution is a growing environmental problem the world over. This month ECOS was in Nairobi, Kenya, for the third meeting of the UN Plastics Treaty negotiations - the first significant global cooperation to tackle plastic pollution. Read our thoughts from the meeting in our latest blog. We also supported a complaint to the European consumer authorities against potentially misleading recycling claims on single-use plastic water bottles. Consumers increasingly try to make environmentally conscious decisions – but misleading claims are not giving us the full picture and undermine our efforts to be circular.

  • 31 October 2023

    ECOS Newsletter – October 2023

    As we mark World Standards Day in October, we reflect on more than two decades of working with standardisers, partner organisations and our members to ensure that the environmental voice is heard when standards are developed. This month we’re also sharing information on a new international standard for the sustainable management of e-waste, which could become a game changer in how we approach this rapidly growing – and very problematic – waste stream.

  • 29 September 2023

    ECOS Newsletter – September 2023

    Incompatible products that are not built to last, labelled with dubious and unsubstantiated green claims should be relegated to the past. This month we are celebrating advances to ban greenwashing, ’climate neutral’ claims and new rules that support longer-lasting and more repairable electronic products. We’ve also seen the global impact of the universal charger standards with Apple announcing its first phones with the new USB-C standard across international markets. Simplifying products for consumers and reducing resource consumption and e-waste creation.

  • 27 July 2023

    ECOS Newsletter – July 2023

    Our planet does not recognise borders. We must tackle the environmental challenges we face together, fostering global cooperation and joint efforts to achieve sustainability and preserve our planet. Through our global teams working extensively on international standards, collaboration with the United Nations (notably on the upcoming Plastics Treaty), and expertise on European Union law and standards, ECOS strives for the uptake of strong environmental principles in policies, laws, and standards all over the world.

    Press contact: Alison Grace – alison.grace@ecostandard.org +32 493 19 22 59

  • 12 March 2024

    Better late than never: EU Green Claims Directive clears European Parliament hurdle

    The European Parliament has voted in favour of a strong Green Claims Directive, confirming its stance before negotiations on the final text – and the EU elections. In its current state, this law would introduce a game-changing legal framework to eliminate greenwashing. However, regrettably, it could already be too late for the file to be finalised before the elections.

  • 07 March 2024

    Q&A: How MEPs can eliminate greenwashing with new EU rules on environmental claims

    On 12 March, the European Parliament will vote in plenary on the proposed Green Claims Directive, finalising their position on this important law. To make greenwashing a thing of the past, MEPs must adopt the ambitious report of their ENVI and IMCO Committee colleagues – without weakening or delaying it.

  • 14 February 2024

    European Parliament committee votes to clean up weak EU Detergents Regulation, but overlooks chemicals

    A better Detergents Regulation is possible, with the European Parliament’s ENVI Committee voting today for a stronger revised law than the European Commission had proposed back in April 2023. However, more efforts are needed to limit the use of chemicals that are harmful to health.

  • 17 January 2024

    EU takes aim at greenwashing in new law to empower consumers – but gaps remain

    The new Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive will put the brakes on unchecked environmental claims in the EU and could usher in a new era for consumers, who may no longer be exposed to a barrage of greenwashing. But major gaps linked to enforcement and verification remain.

  • 19 December 2023

    Euro 7: New EU car emission standard not enough to reduce microplastic pollution from tyres

    The EU has agreed on a new car emission standard, Euro 7, that will (among other things) set limits on emissions stemming from the abrasion of tyres while driving – a massive source of microplastic pollution. Although this is a step in the right direction, Euro 7 will unfortunately not sufficiently address Europe’s microplastic problem.

  • 14 December 2023

    Revised EU rules for construction products miss the mark on sustainability

    Negotiations on the EU Construction Products Regulation (CPR) have concluded, with green groups disappointed that sustainability requirements for construction products continue to lack vision and oversight. The EU’s failure to take meaningful action to regulate this hugely polluting sector means that for the time being the construction industry has dodged decarbonisation, derailing the EU’s path to carbon neutrality.

  • 08 December 2023

    Negotiations dilute EU building law: Member States now hold the reins

    EU legislators suggested an end of fossil heating subsidies by 2025, targets to renovate EU’s building stock, and a reduction of buildings’ carbon footprint. However, the law leaves much leeway when it comes to national implementation, jeopardising its own social and environmental goals.

ECOS is co-funded by the European Commission and EFTA Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or EISMEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

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