Permitted green claims or greenwashing? – Stricter requirements for sustainability communication on packaging

Consumers are becoming increasingly environmentally conscious. This has prompted brands for several years to adapt their products and especially their product packaging to the new consumer needs. Nowadays, it is rare to find products on supermarket shelves without green claims such as “packaging made from 40% recycled material”, “100% recyclable” or “climate neutral”. However, this trend still carries the risk of so-called greenwashing. New EU regulations are designed to put an end to the latter in favor of consumer and environmental protection, but they pose major challenges for brands.

In this article, we explain the most important requirements of the EmpCo and Green Claims Directives. We also discuss what these mean for companies.

Short definitions of terms: green claims and greenwashing

Green claims are statements about products or brands that suggest a neutral or positive environmental impact. They are used, for example, in commercials, on billboards and especially on product packaging – whether verbally or figuratively. However, many of these green claims are imprecise, misleading or unverifiable. The use of such statements, which in the worst case give consumers false information, is known as greenwashing. To prevent such practices, the EU has introduced stricter regulations that are to be definitively implemented from September 2026 (EmpCo) and 2027 (Green Claims).

New EU Directives: Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition (EmpCo) and Green Claims

The EmpCo and Green Claims Directives are designed to strengthen consumer protection by giving consumers the chance to make clearly and reliably informed purchasing decisions in the area of environmentally and sustainability-related advertising. If a brand wants to continue to use Green Claims, it will have to comply with numerous regulations in the future.

Prohibition of general terms without proof

General statements such as “environmentally friendly”, “sustainable”, “climate neutral” or “biodegradable” may only be used if they are justified by a proven “recognized outstanding environmental performance”. The emphasis is on “proven”. Accordingly, unverified claims for marketing purposes, as well as inaccurate formulations, must be adapted or omitted.

Ban on vague promises for the future

Vague promises for the future will no longer be allowed when the guidelines finally come into force in the coming years. For statements such as “climate-neutral from 2030” or “we will be emission-free by 2040”, information on the status quo must be available and detailed measures and verifiable interim targets must be defined and published.

Ban on false claims about social sustainability (“social washing”)

The new guidelines not only regulate environment-related claims, but also social sustainability promises more strictly. For example, a brand may no longer claim that its products are manufactured under fair working conditions or in a socially responsible manner if this is not substantiated.

Ban on incomplete or misleading statements

Green claims that imply the entire product or business of the company is green when in fact they only apply to a portion of the item or brand are prohibited.

For example, the claim “100% plant-based fibers” is incomplete if these fibers only make up 83 percent of the product. And simply declaring an item to be “CO2-neutral” without any further details, when the statement only applies to the manufacturing process but not to the entire life cycle, also misleads consumers.

Prohibition of advertising with self-evident facts

Companies are not allowed to advertise with legal requirements that are generally applicable anyway. This applies not only to the provisions in the EmpCo and Green Claims Directives, but also to other regulations. A statement such as “our packaging does not contain any hazardous chemicals” is therefore not permitted if laws already prescribe that packaging must be free of hazardous chemicals.

An interesting aspect in this context: as soon as the EU’s Packaging & Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) comes into force on August 12, 2026, the ban on advertising with self-evident facts will also apply to statements about the recycled content and recyclability of products. Brands will then only be allowed to mention achievements that go beyond legal requirements.

Restrictions on CO2 claims

At present, green claims such as “climate neutral” or “reduced carbon footprint” often refer primarily to compensation measures such as “for every product we plant 15 trees”. This approach is prohibited under the new guidelines.

While offsetting measures may still be used, CO2 statements must not be based solely on them. Instead, companies must demonstrate that they have done everything in their power to avoid emissions as much as possible. Only then is it permitted to take CO2 offsetting measures into account. The type and scope of these measures must be disclosed in detail.

New rules for statements about lifespan, reparability and updates of products

The EmpCo guideline also addresses the long-term usability of products, which should be supported by manufacturers and not deliberately undermined for profit purposes. For example, it is prohibited to indicate an artificially shortened lifespan of an item in order to encourage consumers to make an early new purchase. Companies are also not allowed to make any statements that encourage consumers to replace consumables such as batteries or printer cartridges earlier than necessary.

False or misleading statements about reparability are also prohibited. Failing to mention or falsely claiming that the use of third-party parts will impair the function of the product is also a violation of the guidelines. The same applies if software updates are declared as necessary, even though they only provide non-essential comfort functions or even intentionally slow down older devices.

Strict testing and certification requirement

Any company that wants to advertise with green claims must have these statements checked and certified in advance by independent experts and must cover the associated costs themselves. To ensure an objective, standardized testing and certification procedure, there will be a list of minimum criteria.

Note: The testing and certification requirement applies to all statements that promise a neutral, reduced or positive environmental impact, as well as to claims that include the entire life cycle of the respective product. Information that is already covered by existing EU regulations is not affected. This includes, in particular, the EU Ecolabel. The organic regulation is also not part of the scope of the new Green Claims Directive. This means that certified organic products may continue to bear the European organic logo and the national organic seal.

Severe penalties

Anyone who violates the EmpCo Directive risks a warning and a recall action. Failure to comply with the Green Claims Directive can result in severe fines of at least four percent of annual sales.

What the new guidelines mean for companies

The new EU directives present companies with the challenge of developing scientifically sound green claims and clearly substantiating them. For some environmental claims, there are currently no standardized or officially approved test methods, which makes the task even more difficult.

To be on the safe side legally and to make the right decisions for your own company, we recommend answering the following questions when developing green claims:

What environmental claims are to be made?
Do the claims apply to the entire product, the packaging or just a partial aspect?
Can the statements be verified and certified? Are there standardized test procedures?
What costs arise from the certification? Is the investment worthwhile?
How can the justifications and supporting documents be communicated on the packaging?

Conclusion: Act now to prevent accusations of greenwashing

The new regulations go hand in hand with a significant change in sustainability communication. Companies that want to continue using environmental claims must place these on a solid foundation. It is important to develop scientifically sound green claims, have them independently tested and certified, and communicate them in a transparent and understandable way. This is the only way to convince authorities and consumers and to avoid legal risks. We will be happy to advise and support you in this. Contact us by phone, fax, e-mail or using our contact form!