La sustainability it is the theme of contemporaneity: it stirs consciences and feeds the market. Companies leverage this argument to promote their products, while customers seek information about the ecological footprint of each of their purchases. In this context, the risk of the greenwashing.
The promotion of the sustainability of the production chain is the vector of a strategic marketing operation on a global scale, not without indefiniteness and imprecision.
To regulate these statements and address the problem of greenwashing, the European Commission has promoted the definition of a legal framework aimed at substantiating the ecological claims of companies based on a reliable assessment.
Green Claims Directive
On 22 March 2023, the Commission published a proposal Green Claims Directive. These rules set out a clear regime for green labeling to ensure access to reliable, comparable and verifiable information for businesses and consumers. The proposal requires that such "green claims", made by companies, be substantiated through an ex-ante verification. In this way, environmental labeling systems will be regulated and greenwashing operations will be curbed.
FEVE: enthusiasm, with some reservations
FEVE (Fédération Européenne du Verre d'Emballage) shares the principles of transparency and reliability, and supports the European Commission's desire to combat the phenomenon of greenwashing. However, the Federation underlines the presence of gaps in the systems used for calculating the environmental impact and in the methodology of the environmental footprint of EU products, based on life cycle assessment.
FEVE highlights the lack of attention it still reserves for circularity of packaging, their infinite recyclability, abandonment of waste, biodiversity and toxicity. In other words, according to the Federation, these assessments must not focus only on the environmental impact of products, but also on effects on human health.
However, it should be reiterated that the proposal of the Green Claims Directive represents a partial but necessary response to the scourge of greenwashing and consumer doubts.
Sources: glass-international.com, rplt.it
