🇪🇺What does the European Parliament’s Green Claims Directive mean for CDR?

A major change to the European carbon offsetting industry may occur soon – one that will affect all of us in the carbon removal (#CDR) industry. In May, the European Commission voted to approve a new Green Claims Directive that will change the way businesses make sustainability claims on the products they sell in the #EU.

What is the Green Claims Directive?

🌱The Directive imposes certification requirements on “#greenwashing” claims, including carbon offsetting claims, to ensure that these claims made are based on accurate and reliable scientific evidence and are consistent with recognized environmental standards.

🔎The initial draft outlined that such green claims (e.g., “carbon-compensated ride”) must be substantiated and verified before being made. Consequently, this directive would require Member States to ensure via national legislation that minimum requirements for substantiation and communication are respected by companies when they make voluntary green claims.

Why is this proposal important for the Carbon Removal Certification Framework (#CRCF)?

❓The Commission underlines that climate-related claims that are based on #carbonoffsets or #carboncredits are particularly prone to being unclear and ambiguous, and to mislead consumers. As a result, the Green Claims Directive tackles the validity issue of offsetting claims.

💚The Commission argues that companies making environmental claims related to CDR would benefit from an integrated framework of legal certification. The base of criteria for such verification will be outlined in the CRCF.

🙌This would allow companies making environmental claims to obtain only one certification that would be valid throughout the EU, making the process of certification cheaper and easier for entities trading within the internal market.

📜This directive will likely have most of its effect after the CRCF is passed, as its implementation will focus on existing EU schemes.

This directive was first proposed in March, and it is encouraging to see it pass swiftly just two months later. Businesses that are already engaged in rigorous certification standards, such as clients of Carbonfuture’s best-off-class certificates, should have a more competitive advantage in making substantiated green claims – as they should. As a result, trust in the CDR market may slowly improve as high-quality certification positions companies well beyond the greenwashing trends that have long marred the market.

What do you think about this new directive? Are you optimistic or doubtful? Let’s talk in the comments.

#carbonremoval #carbonmarkets