{"id":124792,"date":"2023-03-31T07:07:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-31T05:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=124792"},"modified":"2023-03-29T09:40:52","modified_gmt":"2023-03-29T07:40:52","slug":"eu-says-not-banning-carbon-offsets-in-greenwashing-crackdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/eu-says-not-banning-carbon-offsets-in-greenwashing-crackdown\/","title":{"rendered":"EU says \u2018not banning carbon offsets\u2019 in greenwashing crackdown"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

For climate-related claims \u2013 such as \u2018CO2 neutral\u2019 or \u2018net zero\u2019 \u2013 the proposed Green Claims Directive<\/a> requires companies to distinguish between their own emission reduction efforts and the use of carbon-offsetting schemes, such as planting trees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Virginijus Sinkevi\u010dius, European Commissioner, on measures against misleading environmental claims and on the right to repair. [European Union, 2023 Copyright Source: EC – Audiovisual Service<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Companies are requested to specify whether offsets relate to emission reductions or removals and provide additional information, including the methodology used to substantiate the claim and the share of total emissions addressed through offsetting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe message needs to be clear, we are not banning carbon offsets, they are allowed,\u201d stated Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevi\u010dius, who presented the proposal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe only thing is that the consumers must be fully informed. If you\u2019re stating that the product you are selling is carbon neutral, and it\u2019s carbon offset, additional information is needed to specify its carbon offset,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its proposal, the Commission recognises that climate-neutral statements such as \u201cclimate neutral\u201d, \u201ccarbon neutral\u201d, or \u201c100% CO2 compensated\u201d  are often misleading for consumers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such statements are often based on offsetting emissions through \u2018carbon credits\u2019 generated outside the company\u2019s value chain, for instance, from forestry or renewable energy projects using methodologies that are often not transparent or accurate.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This can lead to \u201csignificant risks of overestimations and double counting of avoided or reduced emissions\u201d while deterring companies from \u201cemissions reductions in their own operations and value chains\u201d, the Commission said in its legislative draft<\/a>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To address this, offending companies will be subject to penalties ranging from fines to confiscation of revenues and temporary exclusion from public procurement processes and public funding. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are bringing an additional level of stringency on how companies can use offsets,\u201d a senior Commission official explained during a press briefing on Tuesday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe whole goal is to make sure that the reductions take place in the own organisation making a claim.to approve We are not forbidding claims related to offsets, but we are stringent on how to substantiate these and to communicate them to consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Campaigners call for ban on all carbon neutrality claims<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Green NGOs argue that carbon neutrality claims should be banned because they mislead consumers by suggesting that products or services do not have any climate impact. They also say carbon neutrality claims prevent companies from pursuing \u2018real\u2019 emissions reductions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A recent report<\/a> by Carbon Market Watch, assessing corporations part of the Race to Zero initiative<\/a>, found that their current climate plans will only cut 36% off their combined emissions by their net-zero target years instead of the 90-95% that is required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report said that almost all their climate plans rely on offsetting. Together, the assessed companies plan to offset between 23% and 45% of their combined carbon footprint. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), this proposal is \u201ca missed opportunity to achieve a carbon-neutral economy, which requires companies to focus on reducing their emissions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In February, a group of environmental organisations sent a joint letter<\/a> to the EU asking for a ban on all climate neutrality claims such as \u2018carbon neutral\u2019 and \u2018CO2 neutral\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They also called for tighter restrictions on claims relating to future environmental performance, such as \u2018net zero by 2050\u2019, when these rely upon offsetting to neutralise emissions, and for a prohibition on environmental claims that promote fossil fuels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe claims obstruct the progress of genuinely sustainable products and behaviours,\u201d the letter said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSuch claims are scientifically false, often rely on the use of junk carbon credits and give consumers the false sense that they and traders can continue to behave and consume in a \u2018business as usual\u2019 manner while not negatively impacting the environment and the climate.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For climate-related claims \u2013 such as \u2018CO2 neutral\u2019 or \u2018net zero\u2019 \u2013 the proposed Green Claims Directive requires companies to distinguish between their own emission reduction efforts and the use of carbon-offsetting schemes, such as planting trees. Companies are requested to specify whether offsets relate to emission reductions or removals and provide additional information, including the methodology […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"New legislation presented by the European Commission on Wednesday (22 March) to clamp down on greenwashing allows businesses to continue making carbon-neutral claims, provided they meet specific transparency requirements","footnotes":""},"categories":[5571],"tags":[10744,15386,15787,19644,21948],"supplier":[2317,4571,5585],"class_list":["post-124792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-co2-based","tag-carboncapture","tag-carbonemission","tag-carbonneutral","tag-carbonremoval","tag-greenwashing","supplier-european-commission","supplier-european-environmental-bureau","supplier-european-union"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124792\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124792"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=124792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}