Sustainability

Ecological Product Policy

Product policy is a key factor for a sustainable future. We are working to ensure there is strong regulation on minimum environmental requirement for products entering the EU as well as incentives for producers who choose the most environmentally friendly options.

We are involved in setting ambitious requirements for products addressed by the Ecodesign Directive. This is a powerful instrument which has already delivered on energy efficiency and could potentially extend to other environmental aspects. This is also a clear added value to EU regulation as products are not designed and manufactured at national level.

Since the beginning of 2011, we have been coordinating the Coolproducts campaign aiming at unleashing the energy savings potential of our energy-related products (See the campaign website).

We are also active in the Sustainable Production and Consumption action plan which aims at exploring how to change our consumption patterns through different instruments, such as pricing policy, choice editing at retail stores and more reliable environmental information on products.

To ensure the carrying capacity of our planet, we need to challenge both the offer and demand sides of our daily behaviour towards products: Ecological Product Policy is still at a pioneering stage of a promising future.