Joint letter – Protecting consumers against unfair commercial practices and greenwashing

As the climate crisis intensifies, the legislative processes at the European level are ongoing to update the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD) and the Consumer Rights Directive (CRD) to better protect consumers against common greenwashing practices and equip them for a green economy. However, the current proposal – Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition – will not effectively end greenwashing. Action is urgently needed.

We urge the following amendments to the Commission’s proposed directive for Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition:

1. A ban on all claims of environment- or climate-related neutrality or compensation (claims such as: “carbon neutral”, “CO2 neutral”, “CO2 compensation”, “climate positive”, “plastic neutral”, etc.).
2. Providing tighter restrictions on claims relating to future environmental performance, such as “net zero by 2050” claims.
3. Extending the explicit “anti-cherrypicking” provision to encompass claims about businesses as well as their products.
4. A prohibition on environmental claims with the effect of promoting fossil fuels.
5. Strengthen the definition of certification schemes, ensuring that they are independent, open, and transparent.
6. A prohibition on the use of accounting methodologies using a flexible (site or group level) mass balance approach with free allocation of credits when determining the composition of products (e.g. recycled or biobased content) for the purpose of making claims.
7. A general prohibition of early obsolescence and practices preventing repair.

We expect the EU Institutions to rise to the challenge and set the right example on these essential issues so that consumers are truly protected against unfair market practices and a level playing field is created for companies and all market actors committed to the green transition.

Read the full letter HERE.