Positive steps for EU’s resilience in Council decisions on nature restoration, soil monitoring law & green claims

On 17 June, European legislation on soil, nature, and environmental labelling took a few steps forward as the Council of the European Union approved the Nature Restoration Law, despite strong opposition. 
 
In a positive turn of events, Member States approved the Nature Restoration Law. While the original text has been modified, its approval is positive for Europe’s nature and biodiversity. This decision brings hope that we can make agriculture better for nature, emphasising that healthy ecosystems are key to resilient and sustainable agriculture. 

The Council also agreed on a general approach to the Soil Monitoring Law, an important step to the EU’s first soil legislation. This progress is crucial for promoting healthy soils, which are the foundation of sustainable agriculture. By embracing sustainable soil management practices, like organic farming, we can achieve our goal of restoring soil health in the EU by 2050. 

The Council’s stance on the Green Claims Directive was also positive. As organic movement we believe it is important to tackle greenwashing, so were glad to see that the Council supports the use of methodologies beyond the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) – which is important as the PEF does not adequately consider the positive and negative externalities of the agrifood system. 

For more information on organic and its benefits for climate, nature and soil and IFOAM Organics Europe’s work related to this issue: 

• Get a visual overview of organic’s many benefits for climate and biodiversity in our infographic, 
• Read our document on organic’s benefits for climate and biodiversity, and 
• Check out our infographics on soil and biodiversity & climate change. 

Could not find what you were looking for? Visit our website or contact [email protected]. Do note that we prioritise our members’ requests. 

For detailed information on green claims, consult: 

• IFOAM Organics Europe’s position paper on sustainability labelling  
• The technical briefing highlighting the limitations of the PEF’s methodology   
• Our work on food policies (scroll down and expand ‘Food labelling: Sustainability and nutritional labelling’)  
• Civil society’s concerns:  
  1) Our January 2024 press conference explaining why the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) is a value choice instead of natural science-based  
  2) An open letter by civil society, farmers, of retailers and processors criticising the PEF methodology applied to food products (March 2022) and a joint open letter on concerns over PEF methodology for textiles (November 2022)  
  3) Rapport du CESIAe sur l’affichage environnemental (en français) (November 2023)  

Contact [email protected] for more information about green claims. Please do note that we prioritise our members’ requests.