Greenmail

Acting in their own self-interest, people will exploit regulations.

European Commission to Withdraw Anti-Greenwashing Regulation

The EC cannot even agree to punish greenwashing, the practice in which companies overstate (or lie about) the benefit of their products for the environment.

Almost half of claims are “completely unsubstantiated” while more than half are vague or misleading.

EC puts in a rule. Companies take a look at their incentives and respond. EC doesn’t anticipate the response. The response contradicts their objective (and the spirit of the rule). They can’t figure out how to put a rule in place to stop this.

‘The withdrawal follows two years of negotiations in the EU Parliament and Council over the proposal. The Commission introduced the directive in March 2023, aimed at addressing a need for reliable and verifiable information for consumers, in light studies finding that more than half of green claims by companies in the EU were vague or misleading, and 40% were completely unsubstantiated.

‘The Commission’s proposal included minimum requirements for businesses to substantiate, communicate and verify their green claims, obligating companies to ensure the reliability of their voluntary environmental claims with independent verification and proven with scientific evidence. The directive also targeted the proliferation of private environmental labels, requiring them to be reliable, transparent, independently verified and regularly reviewed, and allowing new labels only if developed at the EU level, and approved only if they demonstrate greater environmental ambition than existing label schemes.’

Supreme Court reverses judges' decision that fuel producers can't challenge EPA over California regulations

We’re told that the regulators are experts and brilliant people. Really?

‘"The government generally may not target a business or industry through stringent and allegedly unlawful regulation, and then evade the resulting lawsuits by claiming that the targets of its regulation should be locked out of court as unaffected bystanders," the Supreme Court opinion declares.’

Trump’s Energy Department is taking back our home appliances from berserk bureaucrats

Regulatory freelancing, indeed.

‘In quite possibly the sharpest regulatory U-turn thus far in 2025, the Trump Department of Energy (DOE) is proposing to roll back home appliance regulations as aggressively as the Biden administration created them. Homeowners will benefit greatly if this effort is successful.

‘Dialing back the appliance red tape ought to be a slam dunk given the consumer dislike of government meddling on everything from stoves to light bulbs to furnaces.

‘Even so, total repeal won’t be easy. The underlying statute, the 1975 Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA), specifically requires the agency to impose certain energy use restrictions, thus any attempts to undo these mandatory provisions are unlikely to withstand the inevitable court challenges.

‘However, the Trump DOE is wisely focusing on the many instances where Biden’s appliance regulations went beyond the law, and it is this regulatory freelancing that is ripe for correction. ‘