{"id":36124,"date":"2025-06-12T09:59:27","date_gmt":"2025-06-12T07:59:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/?p=36124"},"modified":"2025-06-12T10:02:31","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T08:02:31","slug":"increasing-the-credibility-of-green-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/2025\/06\/12\/increasing-the-credibility-of-green-claims\/","title":{"rendered":"Increasing the credibility of green claims"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Nowadays, as consumers increasingly demand products with a low climate impact, a &quot;green&quot; identity has become a key competitiveness factor for companies in the European Union. However, if these products and services<!--more--> do not achieve the declared environmental benefits, this can hinder the green transition and mislead consumers. In particular <strong>climate claims, such as &quot;carbon neutral&quot; or &quot;net zero&quot;<\/strong>, are prone to ambiguity and ambiguity. They can be misinterpreted to mean that the product is emissions-free, or that the company has reduced its own emissions to zero. Moreover, there is growing evidence that many of the carbon credits that support these claims are of questionable environmental integrity.<\/p>\n<p>To address these risks, the European Commission presented on 22 March 2023 a proposal for a directive on the substantiation and communication of explicit environmental claims, known as <strong>Environmental Claims Directive (GCD)<\/strong>. At later stages of the legislative process, delegated acts may provide further specifications regarding the implementation of the Directive, including provisions on the justification of explicit environmental claims. The report we draw on aims to inform these potential delegated acts by analysing existing initiatives addressing the integrity of climate claims, in particular in relation to the generation and use of carbon credits.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Key aspects of the integrity of climate claims<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/euagenda.eu\/publications\/download\/637211\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"> A message<\/span><\/a> identifies and maps initiatives aimed at integrity in the voluntary carbon market and\/or integrity of climate claims. These initiatives are grouped into three broad areas:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Supply-side integrity:<\/strong> It concerns initiatives that focus on <strong>quality of carbon credits<\/strong> delivered by carbon credit schemes. Key elements in this area include:\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Additionality:<\/strong> Ensuring that the reduction or elimination of emissions would not occur without the financial incentive of carbon credits. This includes consideration of legal requirements, financial analysis, and barrier analysis.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Quantification:<\/strong> Robust methodologies for accurately estimating emission reductions or removals, to avoid overestimation. Systematic consideration of uncertainty and conservatism of calculations are important.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Double counting:<\/strong> Avoiding situations where a single emission reduction is counted more than once (e.g. double issuance of credits, double use or double claiming with national emission reduction schemes or nationally determined contributions \u2013 NDCs).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Impermanence:<\/strong> Addressing the risk of reversal of emission reductions, particularly in carbon sequestration projects (e.g. forestry). This includes monitoring and compensating for reversals (e.g. buffer reserves).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Transition to net zeros:<\/strong> Ensuring that the project supports, rather than delays, the transition to global net zero emissions, for example by avoiding \u201clock-in\u201d to carbon-intensive technologies.<\/li>\n<li>Environmental and social impacts: Avoiding negative impacts and promoting additional benefits.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Demand-side integrity:<\/strong> It concerns initiatives that focus on <strong>the integrity of how organizations, public entities or individuals determine their emissions, set climate targets and communicate corresponding claims<\/strong>Key elements include:\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Emissions quantification:<\/strong> Methodologies for quantifying emissions at the organizational, subnational or product level.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Setting climate goals:<\/strong> Process and ambition in setting emission reduction targets.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Prioritizing your own emission reductions:<\/strong> Prioritizing emission reductions within our own operations over the use of carbon credits.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Transparency in the use of carbon credits:<\/strong> Disclosure of information on carbon credits used (e.g. quantities, types, prices).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Climate claims:<\/strong> Clear communication of claims such as &quot;carbon neutral&quot;, &quot;net zero&quot;, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Trading Integrity:<\/strong> It concerns initiatives aimed at the integrity of carbon credit trading, although this area is addressed less frequently.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Characteristics and impact of initiatives.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Of the 43 initiatives assessed, 13 focus on supply-side integrity, 13 on demand-side integrity and 17 address both. Most initiatives are <strong>multilateral initiatives (12)<\/strong> or <strong>national governments (7)<\/strong>In terms of type, the most common are <strong>good practice guidelines (24)<\/strong>, followed by ratings (6) and labeling schemes (5).<\/p>\n<p>The assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of initiatives takes into account their <strong>relevance in the carbon market<\/strong>, <strong>level of guidance provided<\/strong> (principles versus detailed instructions), <strong>comprehensiveness and availability of information<\/strong>. Only <strong>several initiatives offer detailed guidelines<\/strong> (e.g. 9 out of 30 for the supply side, 4 out of 30 for the demand side), with many limited to general principles. Nevertheless, information on most initiatives is publicly available.<\/p>\n<p>Between <strong>most frequently addressed elements on the menu page<\/strong> include additionality, quantification, impermanence and environmental and social impacts. <strong>demand side<\/strong> The most frequently addressed issues are setting climate targets, transparency in the use of carbon credits, and climate claims themselves.<\/p>\n<p>For a successful green transition and consumer trust, it is crucial that green claims are supported by robust integrity frameworks. The analysis of existing initiatives provides valuable insights for the European Commission in developing delegated acts under the Green Claims Directive, which will strengthen the credibility of climate claims and promote real environmental benefits across the EU. This will ensure that the ambitious targets set by the EU are achieved in a transparent and effective manner. <em><strong>Spring<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Glossary of key terms<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Additionality:<\/strong> The principle that emissions reductions or carbon removals would not be achieved without carbon credit revenues is key to ensuring that the carbon credit market generates additional climate action.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Article 6 of the Paris Agreement:<\/strong> Part of the Paris Agreement that sets out a framework for international cooperation on market and non-market mechanisms to achieve emission reductions. It allows for the transfer of mitigation results between countries.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Double Counting:<\/strong> A situation where a single emission reduction or carbon removal is counted more than once towards achieving mitigation goals. Includes double issuance, double use, and double claiming.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Demand-side Integrity:<\/strong> A set of principles and requirements regarding how organizations set their emission reduction targets, quantify emissions, use carbon credits, and make climate-related claims.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Supply-side Integrity:<\/strong> A set of principles and requirements regarding the quality and credibility of carbon credits generated by carbon crediting programs, including aspects such as additionality, quantification and permanence.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Climate Neutral:<\/strong> A claim that usually means that an organization&#039;s or product&#039;s total emissions are offset through the purchase of carbon credits. It is often seen as a less stringent claim than &quot;net zero.&quot;<\/li>\n<li><strong>Quantification:<\/strong> The process of determining the amount of reduction or removal of emissions (supply side) or emissions of an organization\/product (demand side) using established methodologies and principles.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Mitigation Hierarchy:<\/strong> The order of priorities that actors should follow when mitigating emissions: first of all, reducing emissions within their own value chain, then removal, and only then offsetting through carbon credits.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs):<\/strong> There are commitments by countries under the Paris Agreement, which set out their emission reduction targets and measures to adapt to climate change.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Non-permanence:<\/strong> The risk that the emission reduction or removal achieved by a mitigation activity will later be reversed. This is particularly relevant for forestry and soil projects.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Net Zero:<\/strong> A state where anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere are balanced by anthropogenic removals of emissions over a specified period. Typically involves significant emission reductions and neutralization of residual emissions.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Verification:<\/strong> The process of independently checking the truth and accuracy of published information, such as emissions data or progress towards targets, often carried out by a third party.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Transition to Net-zero:<\/strong> Efforts to ensure that mitigation activities support, rather than hinder, the global transition to net zero emissions, for example by avoiding reliance on carbon-intensive technologies.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Residual Emissions:<\/strong> Emissions that remain in the net zero target year and that cannot be completely eliminated despite the implementation of all available mitigation measures consistent with scientific pathways.<\/li>\n<\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nowadays, as consumers increasingly demand products with a low climate impact, a &quot;green&quot; identity has become a key competitiveness factor for companies in the European Union. However, if these products and services<\/p>","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-greenwashing"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36124\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}