Today, Renewd® is present at the European Business Summit in Brussels, to renew our Green Consumption Pledges and make new commitments for even more circular and sustainable business practices
The Green Consumption Pledge is part of the European Climate Pact which is an EU-wide initiative inviting people, communities and organisations to participate in climate action and build a greener Europe. With their signatures, companies promise to accelerate their contribution to a green transition. The pledges have been developed in a joint effort between the Commission and companies. Their aim is to accelerate the contribution of businesses to a sustainable economic recovery and to build consumer trust in the environmental performance of companies and products. Colruyt Group, Decathlon, LEGO Group, L’Óreal and Renewd are the first pioneering enterprises that are participating in this pilot project.
Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, said: “Empowering consumers to make green choices – that is what we set out to do last autumn, when we published the New Consumer Agenda. For informed choices, consumers need more transparency on the carbon footprint and sustainability of products. This is what today’s initiative is about. I therefore warmly welcome the five companies to the Green Pledge and I applaud them on their commitment to go beyond what is required by law. I look forward to working with many more companies, so we can boost further sustainable consumption in the EU”.
The Green Consumption Pledge is based on a set of five core pledges. To join it, companies commit to ambitious actions to improve their environmental impact and to help consumers make more sustainable purchases. They have to take concrete measures in at least three of the five pledge areas and they need to prove their progress with data that they then make public. Each pledging company will work with the Commission in complete transparency to ensure that the progress is reliable and verifiable.
The core pledge areas are the following:
-
Calculate the carbon footprint of the company, including its supply chain, using the calculation methodology or environmental management scheme developed by the Commission, and establish proper due diligence processes towards achieving footprint reductions in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement.
-
Calculate the carbon footprint of selected flagship products of the company, using the methodology developed by the Commission, and to achieve certain footprint reductions for the selected products and disclose the progress to the general public.
-
Increase the sale of sustainable products or services within the total sales of the company or its selected business part.
-
Commit part of the corporate public relations expenditure to the promotion of sustainable practices in line the Commission’s implementation of the European Green Deal policies and actions.
-
Ensure information provided to consumers in relation to the company and product carbon footprints is easy to access, accurate and clear, and maintain this information up-to-date following any reductions or increases of the footprints.
The Green Consumption Pledge initiative focuses on non-food products and it is complementary to the Code of Conduct that is launched as part of the Farm to Fork strategy. The Code of Conduct will bring together stakeholders from the food system to make commitments for responsible business and marketing practices.
Background
The green transition is one of the key priorities of the New Consumer Agenda, aiming to ensure that sustainable products are available to consumers on the EU market and that consumers have better information to be able to make informed choices. Taking into account the key role that industry and trade operators play upstream, it is essential to complement legislative proposals with voluntary, non-regulatory initiatives addressed to pioneers in the industry that are keen to support the green transition. The Green Pledge is one of the non-regulatory initiatives of the New Consumer Agenda.
The Green Consumption Pledge is one of several initiatives the Commission undertakes in order to empower consumers to make more sustainable choices. Another initiative is the legislative proposal on substantiating green claims. This initiative will require companies to substantiate claims they make about the environmental footprint of their products and services by using standard methods for quantifying them. The aim is to make the claims reliable, comparable and verifiable across the EU – avoiding ‘greenwashing’ (companies giving a false impression of their environmental impact). This should help commercial buyers and investors make more sustainable decisions and increase consumer confidence in green labels and information.
The European Climate Pact, adopted on 9 December 2020, aims to help spread scientifically sound information about climate action and provide practical advice for everyday life choices. It will support local initiatives and encourage climate action pledges by individuals or collectives, helping to mobilise support and participation.
Renewd’s Statement
Our dream of reducing e-waste, lowering the carbon footprint and reducing the usage of precious metals and valuable drinking water in Europe, however, has never been so tangible as today. By giving used electronics a second life, we directly extend the life span of these products and prevent them from becoming e-waste way too early. That’s what Renewd stands for. Day in day out.
As Renewd, we feel proud to be a part of this event and to commit ourselves to our pledge alongside these large companies. Together we aim to contribute to a more sustainable future, and our everyday processes and our products are a perfect example of this.
This is not a dream but a daily reality. Today we go even further. We pledge to calculate the carbon footprint of our used products starting in 2021 compared to the use of new products and reduce it by 20% in 2023.
Also, we commit ourselves to expand our product range even further with other used products, in order to give the European consumer more options in choosing a sustainable alternative to new.
Together with our partners, Renewd will invest heavily in informing European consumers that they have an environmental and sustainable option to new by using a premium used devices with full warranty included.
We pledge that the information provided to European consumers related to the carbon footprint, usage of precious metals and water of our products will be permanently available on our webpages, regularly updated at least every quarter and will be designed to be easy to access, accurate and clear.
