The EU has introduced new rules designed to tackle greenwashing and give consumers clearer, more reliable information about the environmental impact of the products and services they buy.
The Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive (ECGT), also known as the EmpCo Directive, entered into application on 27 September 2026. The new rules strengthen existing EU consumer protection legislation and place greater requirements on businesses making environmental claims, using sustainability labels or communicating future environmental commitments.
For businesses selling or marketing products to consumers in the EU, the changes mean it is time to take a closer look at environmental claims across websites, packaging, advertising, product information and other marketing communications.
What is the EU’s new anti-greenwashing law?
The ECGT Directive, formally Directive (EU) 2024/825, amends the EU’s existing Unfair Commercial Practices Directive and Consumer Rights Directive.
Its purpose is to help consumers make more informed purchasing decisions while reducing misleading environmental marketing and encouraging more sustainable consumption.
The Directive introduces new restrictions around:
- Generic environmental claims
- Sustainability labels and environmental logos
- Claims based on carbon offsetting
- Future environmental commitments
- Durability and repairability claims
- Claims about early obsolescence
- Information provided to consumers about guarantees and product durability.
The rules apply to business-to-consumer (B2C) practices, meaning businesses communicating exclusively with other businesses are treated differently under this particular Directive
Why has the EU introduced new greenwashing rules?
Consumers are increasingly interested in the environmental impact of the products and services they purchase. However, environmental claims can sometimes be broad, unclear or difficult to substantiate.
The EU’s new rules are intended to make environmental marketing more transparent and reliable, so consumers can better understand what a claim actually means.
For businesses, this represents a shift away from broad sustainability messaging towards specific, evidence-based environmental communication.
Instead of simply saying that a product is “green”, “eco-friendly” or “sustainable”, businesses increasingly need to be able to explain what makes the product environmentally better, how this has been measured and what evidence supports the claim.
What environmental claims are affected?
One of the most significant changes is the restriction of generic environmental claims where the business cannot demonstrate recognised environmental performance.
Terms such as:
- “Environmentally friendly”
- “Green”
- “Eco-friendly”
- “Sustainable”
- “Biodegradable”
- “Climate friendly”
can create problems when they are presented without specific, verifiable information.
The issue is not necessarily the individual word itself. The concern is whether a claim gives consumers a broad environmental impression that cannot be properly substantiated.
This means businesses should review where and how these terms are used across their marketing.
From broad claims to specific claims
A stronger approach is to replace vague statements with claims that explain the specific environmental characteristic being communicated.
For example:
Instead of:
“Our product is sustainable.”
Consider:
“Made using 80% recycled aluminium.”
The second statement is more specific and gives the consumer something tangible that can be verified.
The underlying principle is simple: say exactly what you can demonstrate.
New rules for sustainability labels
The ECGT Directive also introduces new requirements around sustainability labels.
Businesses cannot simply create their own environmental badges, symbols or sustainability labels and use them to suggest that a product has independently verified environmental credentials.
Sustainability labels must generally be based on a certification scheme or established by public authorities, with requirements around transparency and independent monitoring.
This has important implications for businesses using:
- Sustainability badges
- Environmental logos
- Certification marks
- “Approved” or “verified” environmental claims
- In-house sustainability symbols
Businesses should understand what sits behind any environmental label they use and whether the relevant certification scheme meets the new requirements.
What about carbon offsetting claims?
The new rules also address environmental claims that suggest a product or service has a neutral, reduced or positive climate impact based on the use of carbon offsetting schemes.
This is an important distinction for businesses communicating climate-related claims.
Claims about a product being “carbon neutral” or having a reduced climate impact should not create the impression that the product itself has lower emissions when the claim is primarily based on offsetting.
Businesses should therefore carefully review the evidence and methodology behind any carbon-related consumer claims.
Future sustainability claims will need evidence too
The new rules are not only concerned with what a business has achieved today.
They also introduce requirements around future environmental performance claims.
If a business communicates a future environmental commitment, it needs to support it with a detailed, realistic implementation plan, including measurable, time-bound objectives and the resources required to deliver them. The rules also introduce requirements around independent verification for certain future environmental claims.
This makes claims such as: “We will be net zero by 2030 ” more than a marketing statement.
Businesses need to demonstrate that the commitment is supported by a credible plan, appropriate actions and the resources needed to achieve it. The rules also cover durability and repairability.
What does this mean for UK businesses?
The rules are particularly relevant to UK businesses that sell or market products to consumers in the EU.
The ECGT Directive applies to B2C practices, including businesses that are based outside the EU but market or sell relevant products to EU consumers.
For UK businesses with EU customers, this means environmental claims should not be considered compliant simply because the business is based outside the EU.
It is worth reviewing EU-facing:
- Websites and e-commerce pages
- Product packaging and labels
- Advertising campaigns
- Social media
- Product descriptions
- Sustainability reports used in consumer marketing
- Environmental badges and logos
- Climate and net zero claims
How can businesses prepare for the new anti-greenwashing rules?
The best starting point is to carry out an environmental claims audit.
1. Identify your environmental claims
Create an inventory of the sustainability and environmental claims currently being used across your marketing and communications.
Look beyond obvious phrases such as “sustainable” or “eco-friendly”. Consider claims relating to:
- Carbon
- Net zero
- Recycling
- Renewable energy
- Materials
- Packaging
- Biodiversity
- Circularity
- Waste
- Durability
- Repairability
- Ethical or responsible production
2. Check the evidence behind each claim
For every claim, ask: What evidence supports this statement?
The evidence should be relevant to the specific claim being made and robust enough to withstand scrutiny.
This is where good sustainability data becomes particularly important.
Carbon footprints, life cycle assessments, supply chain data, certifications and other forms of environmental measurement can all play an important role in substantiating environmental communications, depending on the claim.
3. Remove vague or misleading language
Review whether any claims could give consumers a broader environmental impression than the evidence supports.
Where possible, replace generic language with specific, measurable information.
4. Review sustainability labels
Check every sustainability logo, badge or certification used across your consumer-facing communications.
Understand:
- Who operates the scheme?
- What does the certification actually verify?
- Is the scheme transparent?
- Is there independent verification?
- Does the claim relate to the product, business or a specific attribute?
5. Review future commitments
For net zero, climate and other future environmental commitments, make sure there is a credible implementation plan behind the claim.
This should include clear targets, actions, timescales, responsibilities and resources.
6. Build sustainability into marketing approvals
Green claims should not be treated purely as a marketing issue.
Marketing, sustainability, legal and relevant technical teams should work together to ensure claims are accurate, evidence-based and appropriately worded.
What should businesses do now?
The new rules are already in application, so businesses marketing to EU consumers should be treating environmental claims as a compliance and governance issue as well as a communications issue.
A useful first step is to create a central environmental claims register covering:
- Area, What to review
- Website, Environmental and sustainability claims
- Product marketing, Product-level environmental claims
- Packaging, Labels, badges and environmental statements
- Advertising, Paid and organic environmental messaging
- Social media, Sustainability claims and campaign content
- Certifications, Logos, schemes and verification
- Carbon claims, Carbon neutral, reduced emissions and offsetting claims
- Future commitments, Net zero and other future targets
- Evidence, Data and documentation supporting each claim
The objective should not be to stop communicating about sustainability.
Instead, it is about making sustainability communications clearer, more specific and better supported by evidence.
Greenwashing regulation is changing the role of sustainability data
The new EU rules highlight an important shift for businesses.
Sustainability claims can no longer sit separately from the data behind them.
If a business wants to communicate a lower-carbon product, more sustainable material, circular business model or future climate commitment, it needs to understand what can genuinely be demonstrated.
That means strong sustainability measurement, credible evidence and clear internal governance are becoming increasingly important to effective marketing.
For businesses, this is an opportunity to move away from broad sustainability language and towards communications that demonstrate what has actually been measured, what has changed and what the business is doing next.
Read our Greenwashing Guide.
Use the guide as a practical starting point for reviewing your own environmental claims, from carbon and net zero messaging to product, packaging and wider sustainability communications.