FSC has responded to the EU Public Consultation on substantiating Green Claims

This new EU initiative might require companies to substantiate claims they make about the environmental footprint of their products/services by using standard methods for quantifying them, e.g. Product Environmental Footprint (PEF.) 

The aim is to make the claims reliable, comparable and verifiable across the EU. This should help commercial buyers and investors make more sustainable decisions and increase consumer confidence in green labels and information. FSC has shared five main recommendations with the EU Commission: 

• Make PEF method complementary to existing "best-in-class" labels (e.g. EU Ecolabels), as well as to type-1 like ecolabels providing credible assurance rules, such as FSC certification scheme. 
• Keep PEF voluntary for the time being. PEF is currently an imperfect method because its single score and benchmarking rules inevitably create bias. 
• Fight unreliable labels and claims whilst protecting robust labels, logos, and claims respecting strong sustainability requirements, such as the ones developed by ISEAL. 
• Consider using FSC as a proxy to demonstrate a lack of land use change and therefore substantiate a carbon calculation within PEF, as per options already adopted within EU Ecolabel. 
• Not jeopardise well-established eco-label schemes with this new initiative. 

For more information on this file, please contact FSC’s EU Advocacy Manager at: m.mascolo@fsc.org