Empowering Consumers in the Green Transition

A joint statement by ClientEarth, ECOS, Carbon Market Watch, and EEB proposing stricter EU regulations on 'greenwashing' and product durability. The authors argue for the prohibition of environmental claims based on offsetting, the requirement for science-based interim targets for future performance claims, and the banning of environmental advertising for fossil fuel products. They also propose measures to combat obsolescence by mandating transparency regarding repairability, software updates, and the availability of necessary spare parts.

• Environmental claims regarding future performance should be prohibited if they rely solely on offsetting or lack a funded implementation plan based on viable technologies and science-based, verifiable interim targets.
• The authors argue that claims of 'carbon neutrality' or 'plastic neutrality' based on offsetting are misleading and should be prohibited to ensure consistency with EU sustainability reporting rules.
• Generic environmental claims (such as 'eco-friendly' or 'green') should be banned unless the trader can demonstrate 'recognised excellent environmental performance', which the authors suggest should correspond to the top 10-20% of products on the Community market.
• The proposal calls for a total ban on environmental claims that promote fossil fuel products or highly polluting industries, asserting that such claims preserve demand for harmful products.
• To prevent 'accounting tricks', the authors oppose the use of mass balance assessment with free allocation to claim recycled or renewable content in products.
• The document proposes a general prohibition of obsolescence by banning the introduction of features that foreseeably limit a product's lifetime and requiring transparency about repair restrictions.
• The authors recommend that sustainability labels and digital information tools be pre-approved by EU or national authorities or based on transparent certification schemes to avoid the proliferation of unreliable labels.

APA

Carbon Market Watch (2022). Empowering Consumers in the Green Transition. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/ClientEarth-ECOS-CMW-EEB-Empowering-the-Consumer-Oct-2022.pdf

Chicago

Carbon Market Watch. Empowering Consumers in the Green Transition. 2022. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/ClientEarth-ECOS-CMW-EEB-Empowering-the-Consumer-Oct-2022.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Carbon Market Watch |title=Empowering Consumers in the Green Transition |date=October 2022 |url=https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/ClientEarth-ECOS-CMW-EEB-Empowering-the-Consumer-Oct-2022.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{carbonmarketwatch2022empowering, author = {{Carbon Market Watch}}, title = {{Empowering Consumers in the Green Transition}}, publisher = {Carbon Market Watch}, year = {2022}, month = oct, url = {https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/ClientEarth-ECOS-CMW-EEB-Empowering-the-Consumer-Oct-2022.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }