GEIR News March 2021

29/03/2021

Sustainability remains high on the EU and GEIR’s agenda during the first quarter of 2021. The European Commission will put forward a Sustainable Product Initiative to make sustainable products the norm and the default choice for businesses and consumers. As part of this initiative, the issues of greenwashing and misleading green labels will be addressed with the Substantiating Green Claims Initiative in Q2 2021. This initiative will require companies to substantiate claims they make about the environmental footprint of their products/services by using standard methods for quantifying them. This should help commercial buyers and investors make more sustainable decisions and increase consumer confidence in green labels and information.

GEIR will take this opportunity to highlight its role as sustainability enabler within the lubricant industry, through the supply of high-quality regenerated products and sustainable solutions we are providing to our customers and more broadly consumers. GEIR will continue to follow this initiative and coordinate with UEIL on any activities.

Furthermore, GEIR has closely worked with the European Parliament on its report on the Circular Economy. The European Parliament endorsed yet again the need for the European Commission to put forward a legislative proposal with additional measures to promote the regeneration of waste oils including the introduction of quantitative targets by the end of 2022.

Last but not least, GEIR remains active on the revision of the EU Industrial Emissions Directive which defines best available techniques for waste oil regeneration as well as how to handle emissions from industrial installations. In its submission to the public consultation, GEIR underlined, among other points, that the current industrial emissions thresholds are adequate, however there is a need for alignment between all EU environmental legislation.