Today’s ESG Updates
- EU Directive Spells Doom for Companies’ Greenwashing Efforts: A new directive, replacing the previously scrapped Green Claims Directive, attempts to transform sustainability communications by tackling unsubstantiated claims.
- House Looks to Curb Data Centre Energy Increases: Midterms on the horizon, the House has passed the Ratepayer Protection Act to prevent energy prices increases related to data centres from being passed onto consumers.
- Danish Offshore Carbon Storage Enters Burgeoning Industry: Projects backed by EU subsidies and incentives aim to keep European industry competitive despite carbon taxation initiatives.
EU directive fights greenwashing agenda
Replacing a surreptitiously discarded Green Claims Directive (GCD) , the Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition (EmpCo) directive may transform sustainability communications.
The directive focuses on businesses using generic and unsubstantiated claims such as “green” and “environmentally friendly” on their packaging and websites. Companies creating their own labels promoting sustainability claims will be eliminated in favour of third party certification, even if their claims meet evidential standards. And carbon off-setting can no longer qualify companies for ‘carbon neutrality’ labels.
The legislation imposes huge fines for companies who break the rules. Claims must be backed up by easily accessible, verified ESG data, or face fines up to 4% of annual turnover.
But some campaigners describe it as a diluted version of the scrapped GCD. The latter was scrapped because of worries on the impact for small and medium sized businesses. Still, the bar is “not as high as it would have been with the Green Claims Directive,” according to the founder of not-for-profit Anti-Greenwash Charter, Charlie Martin.
There is a fear that companies could give up altogether, the risk of fines outweighing the bonus of sustainability claims. EmpCo will cover all 27 EU states and international businesses within the bloc.
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House policy curbs energy bill increases caused by data centres.
The Ratepayer Protection Act becomes the first major bill in Congress to address rising energy costs associated with data centres. Debate continued for weeks among House Republicans, worried about the public backlash against the ascending industry.
It was uncertain how many House Democrats would support the bipartisan legislation, but the bill passed unanimously, sans three House progressives. Some progressives complained the bill did not sufficiently push tech companies to pay for the energy infrastructure for data centres. Democratic Energy and Natural Resources ranking member for New Mexico, Martin Heinrich, described the bill as ‘basically a voluntary structure.’
The bill requires states to consider a federal standard ensuring large power consumers cover 100% of the costs of new generation and transmission upgrades. The standard is not mandatory. The bill has the potential to pass in the Senate before the November midterm elections. Senate Majority Leader John Thune notes the enthusiastic response in the House could promote a similar agreement from senators.
Related Articles
Here is a list of articles selected by our Editorial Board that have gained significant interest from the public:
Offshore Danish storage site could capture 8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.
The Greensand carbon storage site sits 2km beneath the seabed, and 250km from the Danish mainland. Here, Ineos has plans for up to 8 million tonnes of CO2 storage, starting at 400,000 tonnes per annum in its first phase. The project follows others in the Netherlands, Greece, and the UK; the sector thriving with help from government subsidies. Ineos’ CEO, Jim Ratcliffe, emphasised the project was “not a pilot concept” but a “fully operational carbon storage business.”
Ratcliffe has complained of high energy prices and carbon taxes strangling European factories. The EU targets 50 million tonnes of carbon capture and storage, to offset industries whose pollution cannot be easily decreased, by 2030. The EU sets a price of €87 per tonne of carbon dioxide, but companies can avoid the cost if they store it.
Further drilling, and additional customer interest would be necessary to reach the full potential of 8 million tonnes, says Edbhard Pernot, executive director of Carbon Management Europe. EU Climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra calls EU targets a “stretch.” But Ratcliffe notes that projects such as this could “allow industry to remain competitive while reducing emissions.”
Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed here by the authors are their own, not those of impakter.com — Cover Photo Credit: Bert Christiaens
