Consumers and the green transition between saying and doing : promising consumer empowerment while restricting consumers’ choices is dangerous

Abstract

To deliver the Green Transition, the European Commission is just asking consumers to make green choices when they want. At the same time, EU legislative measures force consumers to take responsibility by restricting their freedom of making environmentally unsustainable choices. This mismatch is undesirable. The article first shows the existence of this mismatch and then explains why it is undesirable. The mismatch is shown with a discourse analysis of the main Commission’s Communications concerning the Green Transition and a comparison with the related Directives and Regulations and their respective proposals for review. To investigate the negative consequences of this mismatch, the article identifies two mechanisms that reduce the effectiveness of the measures implementing the EU Green Deal because of the mismatch. The article concludes with the modest recommendation of a more transparent explanation of the role consumers have to play to achieve the Green Transition.