Today, the EU Parliament voted on the new taxonomy for sustainable investments, which is meant to provide a common language for what activities are sustainable and which are not. Unfortunately, the Parliament vote rendered support for nuclear energy and gas to be included in the taxonomy and thereby viewed as sustainable.
By implementing economic incentives in EU chemicals legislation that would support companies who are moving away from hazardous chemicals, EU policy makers could stimulate the transition of the market towards sustainability more efficiently, a new ChemSec report shows.
PRESS RELEASE: Chemical companies around the world are actively marketing their greener, more sustainable products, whilst holding back details on the mass production of hazardous chemicals, ChemSec’s ranking of chemical companies reveals today.
ChemSec, in collaboration with Apple and other corporate members in the NGO’s Business Group, has developed a step-by-step approach to help companies advance chemical safety within their products and supply chains. ChemCoach, published today, provides a framework to identify, phase out, and replace harmful chemicals with safer alternatives. This resource is now available publicly and free of charge.
EU authorities recently reported that the production and use of hazardous chemicals in everyday products have been reduced by 97 percent in the EU. However, the official registry for chemical volumes doesn’t show any reduction at all.
Experts agree that the data in the registry is off. The problem is that important regulatory actions designed to protect EU citizens from hazardous chemicals are based on this incorrect data.
The Chemicals Strategy gives clear direction on how the transition towards safe and sustainable chemicals should be achieved. Many European companies are already well on their way towards sustainability, fully in line with the Commission’s Chemicals Strategy. A fully realised and implemented Chemicals Strategy will greatly support their work and ambitions for this ongoing transition.
The European Court of Justice confirmed today that the EU illegally allowed dangerous substances for sale in paints when there were safer options – setting a precedent that tightens the screw on companies’ use of toxic chemicals in the EU.
