The European Commission has launched the European Sustainable Consumption Pledge, This initiative is part of the New Consumer Agenda. A pilot was launched in January 2021, and several companies (including small businesses) have taken the pledge.
The European Sustainable 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. They aim 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. The functioning of the Green Consumption Pledges will be assessed in a year from now, before next steps are taken.
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 European Sustainable 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 five core pledge areas are the following:
- identify your carbon footprint and reduce it by setting targets that can be measured and checked in the coming years
- identify your environmental footprint (which relates to other environmental indicators, such as impacts related to water, air, resources, land use and toxicity) and reduce it (e.g. through registering your company with the EU Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS), awarding your products with the EU Ecolabel, or increasing the visibility of EU Ecolabel products)
- increase ‘circularity’ in your activities (e.g. use more recycled or sustainably-sourced material, generate less waste, lower energy consumption in production processes)
- respect social sustainability across your company’s supply chain (e.g. describe internal processes that ensure sustainable production, register your products with recognised labels)
The European Sustainable Consumption Pledge initiative focuses on non-food products and it is complementary to the Code of Conduct that is launched tomorrow, 26 January, 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.
Next Steps
Any company from the non-food sectors as well as companies in the retail sector selling both food and non-food products (e.g. grocery retailers) interested in joining the Green Pledge can contact the European Commission before the end of March 2021.
This initial pilot phase of the European Sustainable Consumption Pledge was completed by January 2022. Now the next steps will be taken, an evaluation of the functioning of the Pledge will be conducted in consultation with the participating companies, relevant consumer organisations and other stakeholders.
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 who are keen to support the green transition. The European Sustainable Consumption Pledge is one of the non-regulatory initiatives of the New Consumer Agenda.
The European Sustainable Consumption Pledge is one of several initiatives the Commission undertakes to empower consumers to make more sustainable choices. Another initiative is the legislative proposal on substantiating green claims which the Commission has adopted in 2021. This initiative requires 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.
May 2022: It’s time for an update about our Pledges! We’re still immensely proud to be part of this project. We’re making steps in the right direction. Our everyday practices are more sustainable than ever before and contribute to the progress of our pledges!
Interested in our update? Download our progress report.
May 2023: This year we once again attended the EU Consumption Summit, where we were invited to speak on our commitments and progress. You can see a small sneak peak of the interview here.
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.
