Category: Sustainability
Greener than green: high time to stop greenwashing
Concerns about the environment and the future of our planet are increasingly growing. In the latest Eurobarometer survey, the climate crisis is listed by EU citizens as the most serious problem the world is currently facing, and this in spite...
Electric cars and climate action: it’s also about payment and pricing
Electric cars can play a major role in decarbonising road transport, but only with easy payment and comparable pricing to make them more convenient to charge, BEUC Director General Monique Goyens writes.
Post-Covid world: new consumer realities policy makers must address
This blog reflects the speech delivered by Monique Goyens at an event marking the 30th anniversary of the Consumers and Environment category of the European Economic and Social Committee, on 1 October 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic has been for many...
‘All roads lead to Rome’ in the green transition; but we may need to build new ones
A well-known proverb says, ‘all roads lead to Rome,’ meaning an outcome can be reached by many methods or ideas. In European policy making, sustainable lifestyles must become our Rome: the aspired-to destination to which all roads must go. While...
Air pollution hot spots revealed by consumer groups in Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia
Long-term exposure to nitrogen oxide (NO2) in certain areas raises numerous questions, a citizen science project by BEUC members in Slovakia, Lithuania and Poland shows. At a time when the European Commission is about to present its Zero Pollution Action...
Use price to change our transport habits
We can clean up our mobility system without it feeling like an uncomfortable sacrifice. This requires fair price signals and incentives that make sustainable transport options affordable and attractive.
Green labels: which ones can you trust?
Many of us have gone through quite a few changes this year. Among them is people’s accelerated take-up of more climate-friendly habits. Bike sales have skyrocketed, demand for organic food has risen, and many among us chose to travel closer to home over summer. This is good news on the climate front,...
A new tool to help people spend less on car fuel
We get low-quality information when buying a car. Better car labelling and a new tool for European drivers to know their fuel consumption, called MILE21, can change this.
How I learned to love climate change
Climate change brings an opportunity: to change our financial system to one that focuses on the long-term broad interests of society as a whole, Kęstutis Kupšys argues.
Thanks to the EU, we’re moving closer to a repair society
Broken washing machines, computers or tumble dryers are creating mountains of heavy household equipment waste. And to replace these broken items, we buy new products, creating a vicious cycle of more expenditure and more waste. To manufacture them, limited resources...