EU Parliament Passes Green Claims Directive: A Game-Changer for #Sustainability
The EU Parliament's recent approval of the Green Claims Directive marks a significant step toward regulating and ensuring the authenticity of sustainability claims. Here's a concise overview of the key implications:
#Certified Sustainability Labels: Within the next two years, all Green Claims must be grounded in certified sustainability labels. Companies making these claims are required to provide primary data, subject to third-party audits for verification.
Elimination of Theoretical Calculations: The directive prohibits the use of theoretical calculations in advertising. Claims such as "If one of our delivery vans did 300 deliveries, we would save X% emissions" will no longer be permissible.
End-to-End Emission Calculations: All sustainability claims must be based on end-to-end emissions and take possible rebound effects into the equation. This means that calculations and certifications for public parcel lockers must now include consumer trips to and from the locker locations. Consequently, advertising sustainability benefits for the use of public lockers becomes challenging (impossible?), as the inclusion of consumer trips is practically unattainable.
Residential and Workplace Parcel Boxes/Lockers: Sustainability claims for residential and workplace parcel boxes/lockers can still be made since the usage data is part of the primary data collected by carriers or locker operators.
I expect that Last Mile Sustainability labels like Blauer Engel, #Svanemärkning, and the Swedish "Fossilfria Leveranser” will adapt their certification criteria to align with the End-to-End principle, even before the Green Claims Directive becomes national law across different countries.
For the circular packaging manufacturers, this is a game changer and challenge as well. Verified Life Cycle Assessment becomes a must.
This directive is expected to bring about a transformative shift in how sustainability is communicated and certified in the Last Mile sector, ensuring greater transparency and credibility in environmental claims.
Josephine Darlington #ecommerce ProPaketBox e.V. iBoxen #lastmile #greenwashing RE-ZIP - Reusable packaging #homebox #CEP
