Briefing: Last chance for a strong EU Green Claims Directive

Greenwashing is rampant — Europe needs this law

The EU Green Claims Directive [1] is Europe’s chance to eliminate the scourge of greenwashing — a growing and alarming practice of companies misleading consumers about the environmental impacts of products.

An enormous 76% of the products on the EU market carry an implicit or explicit green claim, yet more than half of environmental claims made by businesses are misleading, unsubstantiated, or inaccurate [2].

This is because rules set in legislation and standards are loose, leaving the door open to greenwashing [3]. This lack of clarity means regulators bear the brunt of the burden. Verifying the vast amount of claims companies make is next to impossible, and even if it happens, the damage has already been done — the claim exists, and products are being sold.

To truly meet the scale of Europe’s greenwashing problem, this law must be ambitious and avoid damaging loopholes.

The final negotiation: What to aim for

To guard against greenwashing, the EU Green Claims Directive should:

• Introduce verification of environmental claims (by independent verifiers) before they are placed on the market — without loopholes.
• Support companies in making accurate claims with clear rules on how to substantiate and communicate
• Prevent product claims of carbon/climate neutrality or compensation, as they mislead consumers about the actual impact of products and deter companies from reducing their emission.
• Introduce strong guardrails against company-level green claims based on carbon offsetting.
• Fill the gaps left by the Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive [4], which prevents the most misleading practices, but does not clarify how to make good claims.
• Include strict sanctions for non-compliance.

For consumers, this would lead to a higher quality of environmental communication, more trustworthy products, and environmental claims that are based on verifiable, publicly available data.

For businesses, it would lead to a level playing field when it comes to environmental communication and less reputational risk when making environmental claims.

The final negotiation: What to avoid

The most hotly debated issues have been saved for this last negotiation — for example, climate claims and the simplified verification procedure.

Climate claims:

Policymakers have already agreed to prevent climate neutrality claims for products. However, they are set to allow such claims for companies. The question is: with what limitations and rules?

• Will companies be allowed to display a company claim on a product, and risk misleading consumers? For example, confusing statements on products like: ‘Our company is carbon neutral’, which could lead consumers to assume that the product must also be.
• What kind of credits can companies use when claiming to offset their emissions, instead of reducing them? These should be limited to permanent removals to ensure emissions are not simply delayed.
• Which emissions will companies be allowed to offset? Avoidable emissions, or only residual emissions? Allowing residual emissions only would ensure companies are incentivised to reduce their emissions in the first place.
• What will the substantiation rules be? The law should ensure a company cannot abandon its target after benefiting from saying they were climate neutral.

Simplified procedure to publish claims:

In the second trilogue back in April 2025, negotiators agreed that the primary way to publish a claim will be to go through a verification procedure. This last and third trilogue will set rules for a simplified procedure — potentially without verification — authorised only in a limited number of cases with the aim of making the process faster and cheaper for companies. This possibility was introduced following heavy lobbying that called for simplification at the expense of consumer protection.

In the final text, we will be looking for:

• The scope of claims that will be eligible for a simplified procedure. If it is too wide, this will significantly limit the impact of the Green Claims Directive by making full verification de facto the exception instead of the rule.
• The content of the procedure. Will there be any verification before claims are made? Will authorities receive sufficient information from businesses to significantly improve market enforcement? Will consumers benefit from a good level of information? Simply: will this procedure be an improvement compared to the status quo?

Last chance for this law

The upcoming negotiation is supposed to be the final time this law is discussed before a provisional agreement is reached. This must then be adopted by each institution’s formal procedure, before the law officially enters into force.

It will then be incorporated by EU Member States into their national legislation, with 18 or 24 months for transposition, and 24, 30, or 36 months for application — the timeline must still be debated. That means the Green Claims Directive will be applied no earlier than mid- to late-2027, and no later than late 2028.

Quote

Margaux Le Gallou, Senior Programme Manager at ECOS — Environmental Coalition on Standards, said:

On green claims, we’re halfway there. Consumers want information, and companies know they have to give it — but without clear rules on how, more than half of the environmental claims made today are misleading, unproven, or just plain wrong. This directive needs to clarify how companies should evidence, verify, and communicate environmental claims, otherwise it could become yet another tool for greenwashing — and we have more than enough of those already.

Notes to editors

[1] Proposal for an EU Green Claims Directive, European Commission (March 2023): https://environment.ec.europa.eu/publications/proposal-directive-green-claims_en

[2] European Commission (2023): https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/circular-economy/green-claims_en

[3] ‘Greenwashing, certified? How to ensure new laws and standards do not rubberstamp dubious climate neutrality claims’, ECOS report (March 2023): https://ecostandard.org/publications/report-greenwashing-certified-how-to-ensure-new-laws-and-standards-do-not-rubberstamp-dubious-climate-neutrality-claims/

[4] ECOS press release (January 2024), ‘EU takes aim at greenwashing in new law to empower consumers – but gaps remain’: https://ecostandard.org/news_events/eu-takes-aim-at-greenwashing-in-new-law-to-empower-consumers-but-gaps-remain/

Further reading

• ECOS press release (March 2024), ‘Better late than never: EU Green Claims Directive clears European Parliament hurdle’: https://ecostandard.org/news_events/better-late-than-never-eu-green-claims-directive-clears-european-parliament-hurdle/
• ECOS press briefing (March 2024), ‘Q&A: How MEPs can eliminate greenwashing with new EU rules on environmental claims’: https://ecostandard.org/news_events/qa-how-meps-can-eliminate-greenwashing-with-new-eu-rules-on-environmental-claims/

Contact

If you have questions, please contact:

Alison Grace
Senior Press & Communications Manager at ECOS
alison.grace@ecostandard.org
+32 493 19 22 59

ECOS – Environmental Coalition on Standards is an international NGO with a network of members and experts advocating for environmentally friendly technical standards, policies, and laws.