What changed between the plenary report and the adopted text

Removed:DRAFT EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION

Added:TEXTS ADOPTED

Removed:on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on substantiation and communication of explicit environmental claims (Green Claims Directive)

Added:P9_TA(2024)0131

Removed:(COM(2023)0166 – C90116/2023 – 2023/0085(COD))

Added:Substantiation and communication of explicit environmental claims (Green Claims Directive)

Added:Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection

Added:PE753.670

Added:European Parliament legislative resolution of 12 March 2024 on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on substantiation and communication of explicit environmental claims (Green Claims Directive) (COM(2023)0166 – C9-0116/2023 – 2023/0085(COD))

13 unchanged paragraphs

(Ordinary legislative procedure: first reading)

The European Parliament,

– having regard to the Commission proposal to Parliament and the Council (COM(2023)0166),

– having regard to Article 294(2) and Article 114 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, pursuant to which the Commission submitted the proposal to Parliament (C90116/2023),

– having regard to Article 294(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

– having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee,

– having regard to Rule 59 of its Rules of Procedure,

– having regard to the joint deliberations of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety and the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection under Rule 58 of the Rules of Procedure,

– having regard to the opinion of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development,

– having regard to the report of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety and the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (A9-0056/2024),

1. Adopts its position at first reading hereinafter set out;

2. Calls on the Commission to refer the matter to Parliament again if it replaces, substantially amends or intends to substantially amend its proposal;

3. Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council, the Commission and the national parliaments.

Change 1

Removed:Recital 1: (1) Claiming to be “green” and sustainable has become a competitiveness factor, with green products registering greater growth than standard products as consumer interest grows. If goods and services offered and purchased on the internal market are not as environmentally friendly as presented, this would mislead the consumers, hamper the green transition, and prevent the reduction of negative environmental impacts. The potential of green markets is not fully realised. Different requirements imposed by national legislation or private initiatives regulating environmental claims create a burden for companies in cross-border trade, as they need to comply with different requirements in each Member State. This affects their capacity to operate in and take advantage of the internal market. At the same time, market participants have difficulties with identifying reliable environmental claims and making optimal purchasing decisions on the internal market. With a proliferation of different labels and calculation methods on the market, it is difficult for consumers, businesses, investors and stakeholders to establish if claims are trustworthy.

Added:P9_TC1-COD(2023)0085

Removed:Recital 5: (5) Detailed Union rules on substantiation of explicit environmental claims, applicable to companies operating on the Union market in business to consumer communication, will contribute to the green transition towards a circular, climate-neutral and clean economy in the Union, that respects the planetary boundaries, by enabling consumers to take informed purchasing decisions, and will help create a level-playing field for market operators making such claims while promoting sustainable consumption.

Added:Position of the European Parliament adopted at first reading on 12 March 2024 with a view to the adoption of Directive (EU) 2024/… of the European Parliament and of the Council on substantiation and communication of explicit environmental claims (Green Claims Directive)

Removed:Recital 6: (6) A regulatory framework for environmental claims is one of the actions proposed by the Commission to implement the European Green Deal69 , which recognises that reliable, comparable and verifiable information plays an important part in enabling buyers to make more sustainable decisions and reduces the risk of ‘greenwashing’, and includes commitments to step up regulatory and non-regulatory efforts to tackle false environmental claims. Together with other applicable Union regulatory frameworks, including the proposal for a Directive on empowering consumers for the green transition70 , amending Directive 2005/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council71 that this proposal aims at complementing as lex specialis, they establish a clear regime for environmental claims, including environmental labels.

Added:THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Removed:Recital 7: (7) This Directive is part of a set of interrelated initiatives to establish a strong and coherent product policy framework that will make environmentally sustainable products and business models the norm, and not the exception, and to ensure that a claim, which merely reflects common practice, cannot be communicated to customers as sustainable. In order to transform consumption patterns so that no waste is produced in the first place. The Directive is complemented, amongst others, by interventions on the circular design of products, on fostering new business models and setting minimum requirements to prevent that environmentally harmful products are placed on the EU market through the proposal for an Eco-design for Sustainable Products Regulation72 .

Added:Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 114 thereof,

Removed:Recital 9: (9) Within the context of the European Green Deal, the Farm to Fork Strategy and the Biodiversity Strategy, and in accordance with the target of achieving 25% of EU agricultural land under organic farming by 2030 and a significant increase in organic aquaculture and with the Action Plan on the Development of Organic Production (COM(2021) 141), organic farming and organic production need to be developed further. As regards Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council73 , this Directive should not apply to environmental claims on organically certified products substantiated on the basis of that Regulation, related, for instance, to the use of pesticides, fertilisers and anti-microbials or, for instance, to positive impacts of organic farming on biodiversity, soil or water74 . It also has a positive impact on biodiversity, and a positive social impact as it creates jobs and attracts young farmers. Consumers recognise its value. In accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/848, the terms “bio” and “eco” and their derivatives, whether alone or in combination, are only to be used in the Union for products, their ingredients or feed materials that fall under the scope of that Regulation where they have been produced in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/848. For instance, in order to call the cotton “eco”, it has to be certified as organic, as it falls within the scope of Regulation (EU) 2018/848. On the contrary, if the dishwasher detergent is called “eco”, t…

Added:Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,

Removed:Recital 9 a (new): (9a) Within the context of the European Green Deal, the EU Action Plan Towards Zero Pollution for Air, Water and Soil (COM 2021/400, the European Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability (COM/2020/667) and the European Union Strategic Approach to Pharmaceuticals in the Environment (COM/2019/128), the healthcare sector plays a relevant role in reducing environmental pressures. In that context, establishing a proper regulatory framework for using green claims relating to sustainability, biodegradability, circularity and origin of the product’s components both for medicinal products, in accordance with Directive 2001/83/EC, and medical devices, in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2017/745, is crucial in order to encourage companies to contribute to environmental objectives and guarantee reliable communication to consumers.

Added:After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments,

Removed:Recital 13: deleted / (deleted) / (deleted)

Added:Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee

Removed:Recital 14: (14) The proposal for a Directive on empowering consumers for the green transition which amends Directive 2005/29/EC, sets out a number of specific requirements on environmental claims and prohibits generic environmental claims which are not based on recognised excellent environmental performance relevant to the claim. Examples of such generic environmental claims are ‘environmentally friendly’, ‘eco-friendly’, ‘green’, ‘nature’s friend’, ‘ecological’, ‘environmentally correct’, ‘climate friendly’, ‘gentle on the environment’, ‘carbon friendly’, ‘energy efficient’, ‘biodegradable’, ‘biobased’ or similar statements that suggest or create the impression of excellent environmental performance. This Directive should complement the requirements set out in that proposal by addressing specific aspects and requirements for explicit environmental claims as regards their substantiation, communication and verification. The requirements set out in this Directive should apply to specific aspects of explicit environmental claims and will prevail over the requirements set out in Directive 2005/29/EC with regard to those aspects in case of conflict, pursuant to Article 3(4) of that Directive.

Added:Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions,

Removed:Recital 15: (15) In order to ensure that consumers are provided with reliable, comparable and verifiable information which enables them to make more environmentally sustainable decisions and to reduce the risk of ‘greenwashing, it is necessary to establish requirements for substantiation of explicit environmental claims. Such substantiation should take into account robust and independent internationally recognised and up-to-date scientific approaches to identifying and measuring environmental impacts, environmental aspects and environmental performance of products or traders, and it should result in reliable, transparent, comparable and verifiable information to the consumer.

Added:Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure,

Removed:Recital 16: (16) The assessment made to substantiate explicit environmental claims needs to consider the life-cycle of the product or of the overall activities of the trader and should not omit any relevant environmental aspects or environmental impacts. The benefits claimed should not result in a transfer of negative impacts to other stages of the life cycle of a product or trader, or to the creation or increase of other negative environmental impacts.

Added:Whereas:

Removed:Recital 18: (18) In line with Directive 2005/29/EC as amended by the proposal for a Directive on empowering consumers for the green transition, the trader should not present requirements imposed by law on products within a given product category as a distinctive feature of the trader’s offer or advertise benefits for consumers that are considered as common practice in the relevant market. The information used to substantiate explicit environmental claims should therefore make it possible to identify the product’s or trader’s environmental performance in comparison to the common practice for products in the respective product group, such as food, or in the respective sector. This is necessary to underpin the assessment whether the explicit environmental claims can be made with regard to a given product or trader in line with the function of an environmental claim, which is to demonstrate that a product or trader has a positive impact or no impact on the environment, or that a product or a trader is less damaging to the environment than other products or traders. The common practice could be equivalent to the minimum legal requirements that are applicable to the specific environmental aspect or environmental performance, for example as regards product composition, mandatory recycled content or end-of-life treatment. However, in case the majority of products within the product group, or the majority of traders within the sector perform better than those legal requirements, the minimum legal…

Added:(1) Claiming to be “green” and sustainable has become a competitiveness factor, with green products registering greater growth than standard products as consumer interest grows. If goods and services offered and purchased on the internal market are not as environmentally friendly as presented, this would mislead the consumers, hamper the green transition, and prevent the reduction of negative environmental impacts. The potential of green markets is not fully realised. Different requirements imposed by national legislation or private initiatives regulating environmental claims create a burden for companies in cross-border trade, as they need to comply with different requirements in each Member State. This affects their capacity to operate in and take advantage of the internal market. At the same time, market participants have difficulties with identifying reliable environmental claims and making optimal purchasing decisions on the internal market. With a proliferation of different labels and calculation methods on the market, it is difficult for consumers, businesses, investors and stakeholders to establish if claims are trustworthy. [Am. 1]

Removed:Recital 19: (19) It would be misleading to consumers if an explicit environmental claim pointed to the benefits in terms of environmental impacts or environmental aspects while omitting that the achievement of those benefits leads to negative trade-offs on other environmental impacts or environmental aspects. To this end the information used to substantiate explicit environmental claims should ensure that the interlinkages between the relevant environmental impacts and between environmental aspects and environmental impacts can be identified along with potential trade-offs. The assessment used to substantiate explicit environmental claims should identify if improvements on environmental impacts or environmental aspects lead to the kind of trade-offs that worsen the performance as regards other environmental impacts or environmental aspects, for example if savings in water consumption lead to a notable increase in greenhouse gas emissions, or in the same environmental impact in another life-cycle stage of the product, for example CO2 savings in the stage of manufacturing leading to a notable increase of CO2 emissions in the use phase. For example, a claim on positive impacts from efficient use of resources in intensive agricultural practices may mislead consumers due to trade-offs linked to impacts on biodiversity, ecosystems or animal welfare. An environmental claim on green energy may mislead consumers if it is based on resources negatively impacting the local development and environmen…

Added:(2) If environmental claims are not reliable, comparable and verifiable, consumers and other market actors cannot fully leverage their purchasing decisions to reward better environmental performance. Similarly, the lack of reliable, comparable and verifiable information hinders incentives for optimising environmental performance, which would typically go hand in hand with efficiency gains and cost savings for companies along the supply chain as well. These consequences are exacerbated by the lack of a common reference across the internal market and the ensuing confusion.

Removed:Recital 21: (21) Climate-related claims have been shown to be particularly prone to being unclear and ambiguous and to mislead consumers. This relates notably to environmental claims that products or entities are “climate neutral”, “carbon neutral”, “100% CO2 compensated”, or will be “net-zero” by a given year, or similar. Such statements are often based on “offsetting” of greenhouse gas emissions through “carbon credits” generated outside the company’s value chain, for example from forestry or renewable energy projects. The methodologies underpinning offsets vary widely and are not always transparent, accurate, or consistent. This leads to significant risks of overestimations and double counting of avoided or reduced emissions, due to a lack of additionality, permanence, ambitious and dynamic crediting baselines that depart from business as usual, and accurate accounting. These factors result in offset credits of low environmental integrity and credibility that mislead consumers when they are relied upon in explicit environmental claims. Offsetting can also deter traders from emissions reductions in their own operations and value chains. In order to adequately contribute to global climate change mitigation targets, traders should prioritise effective reductions of emissions across their own operations and value chains instead of offsets. Any resulting residual emissions will vary by sector-specific pathway in line with the global climate targets and will have to be addressed through rem…

Added:(3) For users of environmental information (consumers, businesses, investors, public administrations, NGOs) included in environmental claims, the lack of reliability, comparability and verifiability leads to an issue of trust in environmental information and confusion in interpreting heterogeneous, contradictory messages. This is detrimental to consumers and other market actors, as they may choose a product or a business transaction over other alternatives based on misleading information.

Removed:Recital 22: (22) Traders are more and more interested in making environmental claims related to future environmental performance of a trader, including by joining initiatives that are promoting practices which could be conducive to a reduced environmental impact or to more circularity. These claims should be substantiated in line with the rules applicable to all explicit environmental claims.

Added:(4) It is therefore necessary to harmonise further the regulation of environmental claims. Such harmonisation will strengthen the market for more sustainable products and traders by avoiding market fragmentation due to diverging national approaches. It will also set a benchmark that can drive the global transition to a just, climate-neutral, resource-efficient and circular economy.

Removed:Recital 23: (23) The information used to substantiate explicit environmental claims should be based on independent, peer-reviewed, widely recognised, robust and verifiable scientific evidence, i.e. on methods, approaches or studies that have been developed in line with best practices in terms of transparency and peer reviewed by the scientific community, and any lack of consideration of certain environmental impacts or environmental aspects should be carefully considered. The methodologies need to be publicly accessible in order to ensure the transparency and integrity of assessments.

Added:(5) Detailed Union rules on substantiation of explicit environmental claims, applicable to companies operating on the Union market in business to consumer communication, will contribute to the green transition towards a circular, climate-neutral and clean economy in the Union, that respects the planetary boundaries, by enabling consumers to take informed purchasing decisions, and will help create a level-playing field for market operators making such claims while promoting sustainable consumption. [Am. 2]

Removed:Recital 27: (27) Consumers can also be misled by explicit environmental claims that state or imply that a product or trader has less or more environmental impacts or a better or worse environmental performance than other products or traders (‘comparative environmental claims’). Without prejudice to the application, where appropriate, of Directive 2006/114/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council83 , in order to allow the consumers access to reliable information, it is necessary to ensure that comparative environmental claims can be compared in an adequate manner. For example, performance-based certification and process-based certification rely on different sets of indicators, such as setting specific thresholds that need to be met or ensuring that a certain procedure is in place. Choosing indicators on the same environmental aspects but using a different formula for quantification of such indicators makes comparisons impossible, and therefore there is a risk of misleading consumers. In case two traders make an environmental claim on climate change, where one considered only direct environmental impacts, whilst the other considered both direct and indirect environmental impacts, these results are not comparable. Also, a decision to make the comparison only at certain stages of a products life cycle can lead to misleading claims, if not made transparent. A comparative environmental claim needs to ensure that also for products with very different raw materials, uses and process chai…

Added:(6) A regulatory framework for environmental claims is one of the actions proposed by the Commission to implement the European Green Deal, which recognises that reliable, comparable and verifiable information plays an important part in enabling buyers to make more sustainable decisions and reduces the risk of ‘greenwashing’, and includes commitments to step up regulatory and non-regulatory efforts to tackle false environmental claims. Together with other applicable Union regulatory frameworks, including the proposal for a Directive on empowering consumers for the green transition, amending Directive 2005/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council that this proposal aims at complementing as lex specialis, they establish a clear regime for environmental claims, including environmental labels. [Am. 3]

Removed:Recital 27 a (new): (27a) It is important that traders do not make generic claims such as “conscious”, “sustainable”, and “responsible”, based exclusively on recognised excellent environmental performance, because such terms relate to other characteristics in addition to environmental characteristics, such as social characteristics.

Added:(7) This Directive is part of a set of interrelated initiatives to establish a strong and coherent product policy framework that will make environmentally sustainable products and business models the norm, and not the exception, and to ensure that a claim, which merely reflects common practice, cannot be communicated to customers as sustainable, in order to transform consumption patterns so that no waste is produced in the first place. The Directive is complemented, amongst others, by interventions on the circular design of products, on fostering new business models and setting minimum requirements to prevent that environmentally harmful products are placed on the EU market through the proposal for an Eco-design for Sustainable Products Regulation. [Am. 4]

Removed:Recital 29 a (new): (29a) It is important to acknowledge the challenges faced by micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in terms of resources and capabilities, especially in comparison to larger corporations. Therefore, it is essential for Member States, when implementing this Directive, to take all appropriate measures to help micro, small and medium-sized enterprises to comply with the requirements of this Directive.

Added:(8) The specific needs of individual economic sectors should be recognised and this Directive should therefore apply to voluntary explicit environmental claims and environmental labelling schemes that are not regulated by any other Union act as regards their substantiation or communication, or verification. This Directive should therefore not apply to explicit environmental claims for which the Union legislation lays down specific rules, including on methodological frameworks, assessment or accounting rules related to measuring and calculating environmental impacts, environmental aspects or environmental performance of products or traders, or providing mandatory and non-mandatory information to consumers on the environmental performance of products and traders or sustainability information involving messages or representations that may be either mandatory or voluntary pursuant to the Union rules.

Removed:Recital 31: (31) In order to meet both the needs of traders regarding dynamic marketing strategies and the needs of consumers regarding more detailed, and more accurate, environmental information, the Commission may adopt delegated acts to supplement the provisions on substantiation of explicit environmental claims by further specifying the criteria for such substantiation with regard to certain claims (e.g. climate-related claims, including claims based on carbon credits on residual emissions of a trader, such as “climate neutrality”, and claims on recyclability and recycled content). The Commission should be empowered to further establish rules for measuring and calculating the environmental impacts, environmental aspects and environmental performance, by determining which activities, processes, materials, emissions or use of a product or trader contribute significantly or cannot contribute to the relevant environmental impacts and environmental aspects; by determining for which environmental aspects and environmental impacts primary information should be used; and by determining the criteria to assess the accuracy of primary and secondary information. While in most cases the Commission would consider the need for adopting these rules only after having the results of the monitoring of the evolution of environmental claims on the Union market, for some types of claims it may be necessary for the Commission to adopt supplementary rules before the results of this monitoring are available.…

Added:(9) Within the context of the European Green Deal, the Farm to Fork Strategy and the Biodiversity Strategy, and in accordance with the target of achieving 25% of EU agricultural land under organic farming by 2030 and a significant increase in organic aquaculture and with the Action Plan on the Development of Organic Production (COM(2021) 141), organic farming and organic production need to be developed further. As regards Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council, this Directive should not apply to environmental claims on organically certified products substantiated on the basis of that Regulation, related, for instance, to the use of pesticides, fertilisers and anti-microbials or, for instance, to positive impacts of organic farming on biodiversity, soil or water. It also has a positive impact on biodiversity, and a positive social impact as it creates jobs and attracts young farmers. Consumers recognise its value. In accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/848, the terms “bio” and “eco” and their derivatives, whether alone or in combination, are only to be used in the Union for products, their ingredients or feed materials that fall under the scope of that Regulation where they have been produced in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/848. For instance, in order to call the cotton “eco”, it has to be certified as organic, as it falls within the scope of Regulation (EU) 2018/848. On the contrary, if the dishwasher detergent is called “eco”, this does not fall within the scope of Regulation (EU) 2018/848, and is instead regulated by the provisions of Directive 2005/29/EC. [Am. 5]