🇪🇺 Will the Green Claims Directive (hashtag#GCD) survive? 🇪🇺

🛑 Just a week ago, I shared how the German government and the conservative EPP group in Parliament put the brakes on the GCD negotiations, citing increased complexity and costs to businesses.

🔦 A just leaked version of the trilogue negotiation sheds more light on where we stand. A lot of the thorny issues around climate claims have been delegated to follow-on legislation by the European Commission and review clauses installed for contentious issues such as the like-for-like principle.

✅ On the plus side, it looks like the final negotiation - originally scheduled for June 10th - is now going ahead on June 23rd, with the potential of an agreement that could see the GCD adopted after all.

👍 Some hail the GCD as one of Europe’s most promising climate regulations to protect consumers from greenwashing and ensuring that environmental claims made by businesses are accurate and verifiable.

👎 Others point out that we might not need a GCD, as climate claims are already partially regulated in Europe’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (hashtag#CSRD) and the Empowering Consumers Directive (hashtag#ECD). We’ve also seen an increasing amount of court cases brought against companies directly, offering a further avenue for action against greenwashing.

👉 My personal take: the GCD - done right - offers the best of both worlds: clarity for corporates on what claims they can make and how to back them up, and protection for consumers. The alternative - a patchwork of other regulations and case law - seems much more complex and could delay further climate action.

🎙️ Clearly, there is a lot to unpack here, especially after the upcoming final trilogue on the 23rd. Time to dig into it with Elisabeth Harding, one of Brussels finest CDR policy experts, during our next CDR Policy Scoop with Eve Tamme and me.

🗓️ Register now for Wednesday, 25th of June at 9am PT / noon EST / 6pm CEST: https://lnkd.in/dreD-Sjt

⁉️ What is your take? Do we need the GCD? Or are we all better off if it gets axed once and for all?

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