Over the past year, the European Union has slowed its push toward new rules on corporate sustainability communication. A few months ago, in June, the European Commission put the brakes on the Green Claims Directive, which was meant to complement the already adopted Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive (2024/825). This latter directive was introduced with the aim of making the scientific and independent verification of environmental claims mandatory.
Indeed, under this framework it would no longer have been possible, for example, for companies to claim “carbon neutral” status without an accurate assessment carried out in accordance with ISO 14067, the standard that enables the measurement of carbon footprint, i.e. impact on climate change. The Green Claims Directive was and, even though it has not been approved by Parliament, still is conceived as an ambitious piece of legislation intended to achieve a significant result in combating greenwashing in Europe. However, the legislative process stalled following the opposition of a blocking minority led by Italy and Germany.
From a geopolitical perspective, the European Union risks weakening its regulatory leadership on sustainability compared to countries that have recently been accelerating efforts on environmental transparency and the traceability of commercial operations. A harmonized regulatory framework would have allowed consumers and investors to distinguish genuine green practices from mere green marketing operations. The question therefore arises spontaneously: is sustainability really in crisis in Europe? While the European Union is granting greater flexibility to cornerstone regulations of the Green Deal such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDD) there is hope that the European debate will soon reopen space for more ambitious and courageous rules on environmental communication aimed at consumer protection.
Despite the political stalemate, initiatives do exist that encourage companies to adopt methodologies recognized at both European and international level, such as life cycle assessment of products and services. Scientific evaluation through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is the most comprehensive tool for understanding whether something is truly sustainable, and there is no shortage of examples: digital products give the impression of being “immaterial,” yet they have a significant environmental impact linked to energy consumption; a recyclable product may not necessarily have a low environmental impact if its recycling requires a large amount of energy; likewise, different materials within the same product may have varying environmental impacts depending on the phase of the production cycle.
This approach, which originated in the 1970s and has been consolidated over recent decades, has also been incorporated into European regulation through strategies such as the Green Deal and the EU taxonomy for sustainable finance. These frameworks push companies to measure and transparently report their environmental impacts. Today, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) encompasses energy, engineering, economics, management and social sciences, and forces organizations to confront real numbers, data and trade offs.
The financial sector is moving in the same direction: an increasing number of banks facilitate access to credit and financing for companies that meet ESG criteria and that demonstrate, through analyses such as LCA, a concrete commitment to sustainability. Numerous conferences dedicated to life cycle assessment have already taken place or are currently ongoing, such as the first International Life Cycle Assessment Symposium, held from 4 to 6 June 2025 at ICTA-UAB (Catalonia, Spain) under the theme “Towards Circular Water and Nutrient Management for Food Production”; and the World Steel Association’s LCA Conference, held from 9 to 11 July 2025 in Qingdao, China, focusing on life cycle assessment in the steel sector.
Conferences scheduled or upcoming in 2025
For the first time in Italy, the Life Cycle Management Conference will be held in Palermo from 9 to 12 September 2025. Now in its 12th edition, this event is of global relevance for environmental, economic and social sustainability. The theme of the conference is “Global to Local – Methods, Tools and Best Practices for an Efficient and Effective Sustainable Transition,” with a focus on sustainability grounded in scientific criteria and parameters through life cycle assessment of products, services and production processes in relation to different locations, economic and social systems, and the world of work. It is a major forum bringing together academia, industry and institutions to share tools, case studies and best practices. The Conference Chair will be Marzia Traverso, Professor and Director of the Sustainability Department at RWTH Aachen University (Germany), supported by Davide Bonaffini, Head of EcoDesign and Circular Economy at Hitachi Rail, serving as Co-chair. The organization of LCM 2025 is the result of a collaboration between Hitachi Rail, the INaB Department (RWTH Aachen) and the innovative Palermo-based company Circular Srl, led by engineer Antonio Covais. This edition marks a strategic turning point, placing the concrete application of Life Cycle Management in large industries at its core, with a focus on scientific tools to assess the environmental, economic and social impacts of products and services throughout their entire life cycle.
Sustainability in Europe is not dead, but today it stands at a decisive crossroads. Only through political courage and robust scientific tools will the Union be able to reaffirm its ambition to lead global change toward a truly sustainable future. In this context, life cycle assessment must become an integral part of corporate strategies, moving beyond its role as a niche exercise for academics and specialists.
Dr. Maria Antonella Cigno
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