Europe Is Going To Legislate What Makes A Product Green

Heard the scare stories about greenwashing? Turns out that most of the trickery happens when business 2 consumer deals are involved. B2B is an entirely different story, not least because of reputational risks involved. But European legislation also will soon facilitate the combat of greenwashing.

The European environment commissioner Stavros Dimas has said he’s drawing up plans to achieve lower energy consumption by legislating what actually makes a green product. The initiative, the Sustainability Package, comprises new rules that organizations can used to get green procurement operations in place.

The concept of green procurement is not new. Around the globe, companies and public organizations are busy implementing software modules that allow them to make sure they’re purchasing goods and services that score well in terms of green credentials.

Check out the Business and Sustainable Development website for case studies of private companies around the globe that have already got a green procurement strategy in place, including Dupont, Elextrolux, AMP, the BBC, Dow Jones Sustainable Indexes and Humboldt’s Legacy. There are also various small business on this website.

Green procurement is now set to receive backing from European policymakers who are devising a set of minimum requirements for the most environmentally damaging products, Stavros told the Environmental Committee of the European Parliament. The rules, a first draft of which is expected to be published next year, also will facilitate competition because incentives are awarded to products that outperform.

The EU policymakers are especially bullish on resource-efficient products. The new product requirements will be periodically reviewed, Stavros said.

The European Union website already published a green procurement training toolkit, designed for use by public organizations pondering green public procurement Check it out here.