“A shift in production is pivotal”

Christiane Weihe

Protecting the rights of consumers and supporting them on a range of issues from pension provision to food buying is the stated objective of the Federation of German Consumer Organisations (vzbv). It also focuses on sustainability – with regard to financial investments and food alike. Jochen Geilenkirchen is the Federation’s Policy Officer for Sustainable Consumption. Among other things, he analyses the regulations that are intended to protect consumers – including the EU’s Green Claims Directive, whose purpose is to define the rules applicable to product-related environmental claims. In this interview with eco@work, he explains why this Directive is so important and which other opportunities exist to support sustainable behaviour by consumers.

Jochen Geilenkirchen, how can consumers be empowered to act sustainably?

First of all, they need guidance. Due to the multitude of claims that promise benefits from climate neutrality to bee-friendliness, it is almost impossible to differentiate those that have real substance and products that are genuinely sustainable. There is a high level of uncertainty around labels as well. Very many consumers are keen to act sustainably but sadly, this often comes down to money. With food products in particular, the price level is far higher nowadays than it was a few years ago. For that reason, more support should be provided here, particularly for low-income households.

Which other pathways towards more sustainability do you identify?

As one example, all the sustainability labels should be certified by an independent body. The EU’s Supply Chain Directive (CSDDD) can potentially make a significant contribution as well: it is intended to safeguard standards in supply chains, but puts a strong focus on social sustainability. So on its own, it can’t solve the issue, and in any case, it is being called into question to a significant extent again. The Empowering Consumers Directive and the Green Claims Directive are other steps towards giving consumers more clarity on product sustainability. Relying solely on ex-post lawsuits by civil society organisations such as vzbv to remove misleading claims from the market is not a long-term solution.

Are the EU directives effective in their current form?

They are certainly useful and a start has been made, which is a good thing. What is needed are clear rules on the methods to be used in substantiating claims, which should apply to all companies. What’s more, from our perspective, there should not only be accreditation and therefore assessment of the bodies that check whether companies are complying with the provisions of the Directive. The process itself – in other words, how the inspection bodies carry out the checks – should also be assessed and accredited. That’s not envisaged at present.

What kind of claims does the vzbv take action against?

Claims about climate neutrality, among other things. Studies show that nine out of 10 consumers who buy a product advertised as climate-neutral believe that no climate-damaging gases were emitted in the manufacturing process. But with today’s technology, that’s simply not possible – especially in the case of a product like “climate-neutral heating oil”. These claims are generally based on offsetting, and that is far from reliable as well.

When does vzbv take action?

As an example, we issued a written warning to FIFA because it claimed that the World Cup in Qatar was “carbon-neutral”. But we don’t undertake systematic market surveillance; instead, we monitor the market, investigate complaints by consumers and take action against particularly flagrant cases of misleading claims.

What role does business have to play?

A shift in production is a pivotal issue. Regulation is required for that, because we have seen in recent years that voluntary commitments don’t work. The goal must be to achieve compliance with clearly defined sustainability standards in supply chains. However, a further aim is to ensure that production-related impacts, such as environmental pollution, are factored into product prices, without losing sight of the issue of continued affordability for the consumer.

Thank you for talking to eco@work.

The interviewer was Christiane Weihe.

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Talking to eco@work: Jochen Geilenkirchen, Policy Officer for Sustainable Consumption at the Federation of German Consumer Organisations (vzbv).