EuropeancommissionEnvironmental footprinting of products – The policy outlookMr Michele GalatolaProduct Team LeaderDG Environment, C1 – Sustainable Production and Consumption Unit★ ★★ ★★★★★★★ ★ ★ Problem definition 1. Confusion in the market on how to measure, make and understand a claim on the environmental performance of products and companies (leading to misleading claims, unfair commercial practices and greenwashing).2. Lack of a level playing field, fragmentation of the markets on methods for reporting environmental performance of products (including both good and service) and companies.3. Companies would like to have to invest more in greening their value chain. The lack of consistent and science-based multi-criteria environmental information covering the entire value chain makes it difficult for companies to address issues like "green sourcing" and investing in tackling the most relevant environmental impacts for their products/sectors.Environmental footprinting and theRoadmap to Resource EfficiencyMilestone by 2020, citizens and public authorities have the right incentives to choose the most resource efficient products and services, through appropriate price signals and clear environmental information. Their purchasing choices will stimulate companies to innovate and to supply more resource efficient goods and services. Minimum environmental performance standards are set to remove the least resource efficient and most polluting products from the market. Consumer demand is high for more sustainable products and servicesThe Commission will: Establish a common methodological approach to enable Member States and the private sector to assess, display and benchmark the environmental performance of products, services...
