Under the EU Green Deal, the European Commission (EC) was considering substantiating sustainability claims with a unified methodology. If a lifecycle Assessment (LCA)-based Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) methodology had been used to substantiate green claims in the EU, crucial attributes such as circularity, microplastic release, and plastic waste would be overlooked. This would stand to impact claim efficacy and credibility and consumers could be unable to make truly informed decisions at point-of-purchase.
Eco Age worked with its client and EU lobbying agency partner to form an international coalition, Make The Label Count (MTLC), to raise awareness of the importance of accurate and complete sustainability labelling and to engage in productive conversations at European Commission level.
Leading up to the launch of Make the Label Count, Eco Age published a range of contributions to increase industry understanding of fashion sustainability, including docufilm Fashionscapes: A Circular Economy, the Cradle newsletter series, and the Great Green Washing Machine reports #1 and #2.
The coalition has had over 40 meetings with EU institutional stakeholders, orchestrated open letters and hosted an onsite wool visit for Members of European Parliament. As part of wider engagement, MTLC has also featured in industry press, and participated a range of webinars and panel discussions to drive transparency and accuracy in the green claims space. On 22 March 2023, the European Commission published its Substantiating Green Claims Directive, and notably, had listened to the concerns raised by MTLC and other industry groups and decided not to pursue a single methodology such as PEF to substantiate green claims.
