Proposal for Green Claims Directive

In the future, traders would be required to comply with additional requirements to combat the greenwashing of products. Companies would be required to submit environmental marketing claims for verification before using them, if the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on substantiation and communication of explicit environmental claims (Green Claims Directive) is adopted. The proposed Directive is currently in the European Parliament and the requirements would apply 24 months after the entry into force.

The proposed Directive is part of EU’s efforts to amend the EU’s consumer protection legislation and to ensure that the consumers contribute to the green transition. According to the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) S4 Consumers and end-users, companies are required to report about responsible marketing practices.

Additional information

The proposed Directive would introduce basic requirements for substantiating and conveying voluntary environmental claims and labelling in consumer interactions. The proposed Directive is designed to complement existing EU legislation that governs environmental claims related to specific products or sectors, ensuring claims are not misleading by adhering to certain minimum criteria for substantiation. Exemptions would be introduced for microenterprises (with less than 10 employees and an annual turnover under EUR 2 million), except when these entities seek a certification for their environmental claim.

If adopted, companies who choose to compare their products or organisation would be required to offer fair comparisons based on equivalent information and data. New public labelling schemes would only be allowed if they are established at EU level, would need to obtain pre-approval and demonstrate higher environmental ambition than current ones before their establishment.