The Government is already preparing a Sustainable Consumption Law that aims to fight against ecopostureo or
greenwashing
.
In line with recent European directives on the subject, the future standard will identify as “unfair commercial practice” the inclusion of generic environmental claims – such as “sustainable”, “green”, “friendly to the planet” – or those that do not have scientific support. , and those who use them may be fined up to 100,000 euros, or up to six times the illicit benefit obtained.
According to sources from the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumption and Agenda 2030, the regulations, which have not yet been dated, will also include a repairability index so that consumers know the duration of products and know how to evaluate those that can be repaired more easily.
According to data from the European Commission, more than half of green product claims are “vague, misleading or unsubstantiated.”
Up to 40% even have no basis to be sold as environmentally friendly products.
For this reason, the EU is working on two directives, one on consumer empowerment for the ecological transition and another on the justification and communication of explicit environmental claims (green
claims
directive ).
With the entry into force of the latter, it will be necessary to verify that what is said in the environmental allegations is true, while those that are generic in nature will be considered “unfair commercial practices.”
The ministry wants to transpose both directives into the Spanish standard and go further.
“The will of this ministry is to go to the maximum with the debates that are taking place in Europe,” say sources from Pablo Bustinduy's department.
For this reason, the future law aims to become “avant-garde in Europe in terms of sustainable consumption” and against these practices that turn any product “green.”
Products with environmental labels on their packaging, this Thursday in an establishment in Seville.
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When the Spanish standard is approved, the environmental phrases or slogans must be supported by clear, objective, publicly available and verifiable commitments, included in a detailed and realistic execution plan that shows how these goals will be achieved.
In addition, companies will be prevented from displaying sustainability badges that involve commercial communication that suggests that a product has a positive or no impact on the environment or is less harmful to the environment than competing products.
All these issues must be analyzed case by case by the Consumer authorities - both the ministry itself and the regional authorities - and, when they fail to comply, they may face a sanction.
Greenwashing
practices
will be considered acts of unfair competition, and may be sanctioned with up to 100,000 euros or, in the most serious cases, up to six times the illegal profit obtained.
The standard will cover any type of communication that a company makes, from advertising to packaging or labels, and any other information about the product.
The case will be different for labels such as the “ecological” seal, whose products have to comply with specific regulations.
“We want the Sustainable Consumption Law to become one of the milestones of the regulatory action of this ministry,” Pablo Bustinduy, Minister of Consumption, explained to EL PAÍS a few days ago.
“The transformation of our modes of production and consumption so that they fit into an ecological transition strategy is one of our fundamental legs.
We hope that the law can be one of the pillars on which to base this change of model, which ultimately implies a democratization of economic and productive activity in our country,” he added.
This type of greenwashing has environmental activists and some policymakers worried.
Within the UN, António Guterres, its secretary general, created a group of experts who developed a guide to avoid these practices that undermine the fight against climate change.
These experts, for example, made it clear that a company cannot present itself as green if its business plans continue to focus on new oil or gas exploitation.
Or if the salaries of its managers depend on increasing fossil fuel extraction.
Or whether their emissions reductions are based mainly on offsets, that is, protecting or increasing forest area.
Detergent with an environmental label on its packaging, this Thursday in a supermarket in Seville.
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A recent study focused on precisely those same problems when analyzing the climate plans of 24 of the largest multinationals on the planet.
All of them, the experts pointed out, present themselves as ambitious in this battle against warming and have plans and objectives to reduce their emissions.
But when scrutinized carefully, it is discovered that the effects they will actually have in reducing their greenhouse gases (responsible for global warming) are far below what is required.
For example, by 2030 science warns that global emissions should fall by 43%;
but the plans of the companies analyzed only contemplate a 21% reduction of their gases in the most optimistic of the scenarios.
More information
Consumer prepares a label to indicate which devices and appliances are easier to repair
Precisely, this Friday the ministry presents a sustainable communication guide to show consumers and companies how to include adequate environmental information and how to identify ecopostureo.
The text aims to be “an instrument that facilitates the development of appropriate sustainable communication policies, giving keys for the correct inclusion of environmental information in commercial strategies and campaigns.”
It shows vocabulary on the topic—life cycle, eco-whitewashing, sustainability—and practical cases of commercial slogans.
For example, “simply describing products as sustainable is incorrect.
It is not explained what it refers to, so consumers may think that its benefits are greater than they really are.”
In search of repairability
The Sustainable Consumption Law will also include the right to repair and the repairability index, which the Ministry of Consumer Affairs already announced in the previous legislature.
This is a classification of appliances and electronics based on different variables, such as the availability of replacement parts.
It is something that has already been in place in France since 2021. This part of the standard transposes the European Ecodesign Regulation (directive 2009/125/EC), which is also in its final phase of negotiation in the Union institutions.
According to Social Rights, this index will allow consumers to effectively evaluate and compare products, so the format, content and presentation of said repairability and durability index will include easy-to-understand language and pictograms.
The repairability score will be based on a harmonized methodology specified for the product or group of products, aggregating into a single score parameters such as availability of spare parts, price of spare parts, ease of disassembly and availability of tools. .
The standard will include the right to repair as a basic principle, allowing, whenever possible, the option to repair a product when it breaks during its warranty, and even afterwards.
It will also include ensuring that product repair increases the product warranty when this option is chosen, rather than replacement with a new one.
As explained this Friday by Bibiana Medialdea, General Secretary of Consumer Affairs, the idea is to “promote the rights of consumers and, at the same time, prevent products from being discarded prematurely to reduce the generation of gas emissions.” greenhouse effects and the demand for valuable resources.
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