When it comes to green claims regulations, a lot is changing — which is a good thing! But it can be hard to keep up. 

Most recently, the European Union passed a new anti-greenwashing law to protect EU consumers, signaling a significant change to how companies have traditionally communicated their sustainability efforts. 

In this blog post, we unpack the new legislation and what it means for your company's sustainability communications strategy, leaving you with some practical action items and resources for leveling up your approach. 

🤔 What exactly is the EU green claims ban?

The Empowering Consumers to Green Transition Directive (ECGT) includes a ban on vague, misleading green claims but also outlines a wider set of rules for how businesses can communicate about a product’s environmental impact, including its durability and repairability. These rules will be implemented as amendments to the current text of the EU Unfair Commercial Practices Directive and Consumer Rights Directive. 

The ECGT Directive is part of a larger suite of EU measures — including the proposed Green Claims Directive, the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation and the Right to Repair Directive — intended to encourage greater sustainability and circularity in the European Union. It was set out in the New Consumer Agenda and the Circular Economy Action Plan and follows up on the European Green Deal. 

🗞️ What’s the latest?

On January 17, 2024 lawmakers in the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly in favor — 593-21 across party lines — to adopt the ECGT Directive. The approved text bans the use of certain generic terms, regulates the use of sustainability labels and bans certain practices associated with early obsolescence of consumer products.

The new directive needs to receive final approval from the EU Council before being published in the Official Journal of the EU. Member states will then have two years to integrate it into their national laws, giving businesses time to adapt their claims. It’s expected the new requirements will start being applied around the third quarter of 2026.

⏱️ Why is this coming up now?

Greenwashing has become a hot topic in recent years as more and more brands use environmental claims as a marketing tactic. Notably:

• A 2020 study by the EU Commission found that 53.3% of green claims by examined companies in the EU were vague, misleading or unfounded, and 40% were completely unsubstantiated. 

• Today in the EU, there are more than 1200 green labels and claims, but barely 35% have any form of verification. 

The absence of common rules for companies making voluntary green claims leads to greenwashing and creates an uneven playing field in the EU's market – to the disadvantage of genuinely sustainable companies.

🧐 So, what are the new rules?

→ No more generic green claims without proof recognized by EU laws.

These include commonly used terms like:

• environmentally friendly

• environmentally correct

• eco-friendly

• eco

• green

• nature’s friend

• ecological

• climate-friendly

• gentle on the environment

• energy efficient

• biodegradable

• biobased

• conscious

• responsible 

You cannot use these terms without being able to demonstrate “recognized excellent environmental performance.” The proof used to substantiate these claims must be in accordance with applicable Union laws or comply with EU Ecolabel Regulations or another scheme officially recognized in member states. The proof must be relevant to the entire claim and you cannot make a generic claim like ‘conscious’, ‘sustainable’ or ‘responsible’ based exclusively on environmental performance – as these terms relate to other aspects of a product and/or service, such as its social performance.

→ No more carbon neutral or climate positive claims — at all.  

Claims that a product and/or service has a neutral, reduced or positive impact on the environment in terms of emissions when the claim is based on GHG offsetting are banned under all circumstances. Examples of banned terms include:

• climate neutral

• CO2 neutral certified

• carbon positive

• climate net zero

• climate compensated

• reduced climate impact

• limited CO2 footprint

This means airlines are no longer able to sell carbon neutral flights, banks are no longer able to market net zero accounts and plastic bottle companies can’t say they have a carbon positive impact.

“There is no such thing as carbon neutral,” said Biljana Borzan, European Parliament’s rapporteur on empowering consumers for the green transition. “Such terms are misleading, in every single case.” 

This rule is particularly relevant to future claims that indicate a transition to carbon neutrality by a certain date, creating the impression that consumers contribute to a low-carbon economy by purchasing certain products and/or services.

→ Other climate-related claims must meet specific requirements.

Generally, climate-related claims can only be used if they are:

• Supported by clear, objective, publicly available and verifiable commitments and targets.

• Set out in a detailed and realistic implementation plan that shows how these commitments and targets will be achieved and allocates resources to this end.

• Verified by a third party expert with the findings made available to consumers. (Third party experts are defined as “independent from the trader, free from any conflicts of interest, with experience and competence in environmental issues. They should be enabled to regularly monitor the progress of the trader with regard to the commitments and targets, including the milestones for achieving them.”)

• Based on the actual life cycle impacts of the product in question, and not based on carbon offsetting schemes outside the product’s value chain.

Note, this rule shouldn’t prevent companies from advertising their investments in environmental initiatives – including carbon credit projects. They can continue to communicate their initiatives so long as they meet the requirements outlined in the directive and communicate in a way that is not misleading.

→ Environmental certification schemes and labels will be regulated.

With the confusion caused by a rampant increase in the use of sustainability labels – and a lack of suitable comparative data – the EU will now regulate the use of sustainability labels. Under the new rules, only sustainability labels based on official certification schemes – or established by public authorities – will be allowed in the EU.

An official certification scheme is defined as “a third-party verification scheme that is open under transparent, fair and non-discriminatory terms to all traders willing and able to comply with the scheme’s requirements, which certifies that a product complies with certain requirements, and for which the monitoring of compliance is objective, based on international, Union or national standards and procedures and carried out by a party independent from both the scheme owner and the trader.”

At this time, it’s not clear what specific schemes meet the new requirements and can continue to award environmental labels/certifications in EU markets. However, it is clear that any new public labeling schemes based outside of the EU would need to be approved by the EU Commission and new schemes set up in the EU would need to be approved by member states.

→ More visibility for product guarantees & repairability information.

Another important objective of the directive is to make producers and consumers more focused on the durability of goods. In the EU, consumers benefit from a two-year legal guarantee against all manufacturing defects during the purchase or delivery of a product (every seller in the EU must provide this legal guarantee of compliance for each product). 

But many consumers do not know this, which is why the new laws will make guarantee information more visible through the introduction of a guaranteed lifespan label. This label will reflect both the minimum two-year period the consumer is covered by legal guarantee, as well as an indication of the product’s expected lifespan.

Producers and traders can prolong this guarantee beyond two years, but can only indicate it on a label if it does not entail additional costs for the consumer and if it applies to the whole product. This new harmonized label should feature prominently on product packaging or be placed close to where the product is sold. Notices will also be displayed in shops and websites to increase awareness of the legal guarantee of conformity. The label will be available 18 months after the directive enters into force.

The new laws also require traders to make information on product availability and repair costs, procedures and possible restrictions available to consumers at the point of sale.

→ Banning practices associated with the early obsolescence of goods.

These practices include:

• Unfounded durability claims like falsely claiming a product will last longer than it will if this is not true under normal conditions. For example, saying that a washing machine will last for 5,000 washing cycles if this is not true under normal conditions.

• Presenting software updates as necessary when they only enhance functionality.

• Presenting goods as repairable when they are not.

• Telling consumers to replace consumables earlier than necessary for technical reasons. For example, telling consumers to replace an ink cartridge sooner than necessary.

• Withholding information that using parts or accessories not supplied by the original producer could harm a product, or falsely claiming it will.