In March, the European Parliament adopted its position on the so-called Green Claims Directive →, a proposal to reinforce regulatory measures against false or misleading environmental claims, commonly known as “greenwashing.” Under the proposal, only companies that have verified their claims as environmentally friendly can reap commercial benefits from using green claims.
At JTI, sustainability is an integral part of our day-to-day business operations and we have reported on sustainability since 2013, earning several external recognitions over the years. We have also been investing to reduce carbon emissions for over 15 years and have committed to be Carbon Neutral for our own operations by 2030 and Net-Zero across our entire value chain by 2050.
At JTI, we recognize that what gets measured, gets done.
Being transparent on our progress is something we take very seriously. We’ve been reporting on Sustainability since 2013 in line with global reporting standards and have earned several external recognitions along the way.
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JTI supports proportionate and reasonable sustainability regulation that commits everyone equally and fairly to ensure the creation of a better future for all. Therefore, it is frankly shameful that such a sector-neutral initiative has been abused by some activist politicians to single out the tobacco industry demanding that ‘none of their environmental claims should be allowed’.
The clear intention of the Green Claims Directive is to shape future-oriented, harmonized rules for business operations across all sectors equally in order to facilitate an effective green transition.
It is more than unfortunate, however, if the path of good intentions gets clouded by activism which deliberately ignores the EU’s very own high standards of good governance and which tramples over all modern principles of law-making such as evidence-based equality and non-discrimination. To make matters worse, such provisions would be contradictory to existing EU law as they would conflict with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which imposes obligations on companies to disclose information on what they see as risks and opportunities arising from social and environmental issues, and on the impact of their activities on people and the environment.
