Misleading ‘carbon neutral’ claims are rife in the food sector and confuse consumers, as shown in a snapshot of examples published today by consumer groups from ten countries. BEUC is calling on the EU to ban the use of carbon neutral claims for all products including food and drink, while both the European Commission and Parliament are due to tackle greenwashing in the coming weeks.

Due to pressure from Germany, EU member states are delaying the signing off of a new EU law which would eliminate CO2 emissions from new cars by 2035. The request by national politicians to introduce a loophole for cars running on synthetic ‘e-fuels’ in the law runs against the interest of drivers, as it will be much more costly than going electric.

The European Commission and the European network of consumer authorities have closed their investigation into Meta’s messaging app WhatsApp following a complaint made by BEUC together with eight of its members in July 2021. It results in a mere commitment by the company to do better in the future. The news is a disappointment for consumers.

BEUC and the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) – a network of 77 consumer and digital rights organisations – are concerned about the EU-US ‘joint roadmap’ on artificial intelligence (AI) developed as part of the Trade and Technology Council. Ahead of a public event focused on the roadmap today (16/02), we are calling on policymakers to make sure the roadmap does not interfere with how AI is regulated in either the EU or US.