EU Green Claims Directive will use PEF in some form

In the lead up to a meeting of the European Council earlier this week, woolgrowers from across Australia and the world sent an open letter, urging that the product environmental footprint be kept out of the directive.

Wool industry representatives have spent years battled against the EU's proposed product environmental footprint methodology, believing they could give synthetic fibres an advantage over natural ones.

Now the product environmental footprint has been given the green light in the newly approved general approach for the directive, which is designed to prevent companies from making misleading and false environmental claims.

"Today, we reached an important agreement to fight greenwashing by setting rules on clear, sufficient and evidence-based information on the environmental characteristics of products and services," Minister of the Government of the Brussels-Capital Region Alain Maron said.

"Our aim is to help European citizens to make well-founded green choices."

The general approach sets out that "the use of these Environmental Footprint methods to substantiate environmental claims, especially where Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules or Organisation Environmental Footprint Sector Rules have been established ...is recommended".

However the approach also says that regarding agricultural products "biodiversity and nature protection, as well as farming practices, including positive externalities of extensive farming" would need to be integrated into product environmental footprint category rules before they could be adopted.

In adopting their initial position the European Council acknowledged the importance of existing national or regional public labelling schemes and agreed on the possibility of establishing new schemes and exempting those regulated by EU or national law from third-party verification.

The general approach has also introduced new requirements to prove climate-related claims, including those involving carbon credits, with the Council's position also distinguishing between contribution claims and offset claims.

From here the general approach will form the basis for negotiations with the European Parliament on the final shape of the directive.