Stricter rules for green claims and environment-related advertising in the EU. What’s changing?

Green claims like “emission-free” and “climate-neutral” are unavoidable in advertising. But these environment-related advertising statements are of limited significance for consumers. A 2020 study by the European Commission categorised more than half of all green claims in the EU as vague, misleading or unfounded.  

To counter this, rules on voluntary communication will be tightened in the EU.  

As part of the EU’s Green Deal, the EU Commission started, in 2022, the revision of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD) to update the criteria for misleading claims. Since then, the revision of the UCPD was finalised at the end of 2023, with the start of application in late 2026. 

In spring 2023, the EU Commission also proposed a new law – the EU Green Claims Directive – that sets verification rules specifically for environmental claims. The final negotiations between the EU Council and the Parliament on Green Claims Directive are still ongoing – the final law should be published in Q4 2024, and start applying in 2028. 

France has already taken action with a new law that applies clear conditions to environment-related advertising, which has been in effect since 1 January 2023.  

Both above-mentioned EU directives set stricter rules for B2C claims on business and product level made by companies on the EU market. They focus a lot on sustainability claims. The new guidelines introduce uniform standards for environment-related advertising to ensure that green claims are reliable, based on scientific evidence, comparable and verifiable. The goal is to prevent greenwashing and empower consumers in the EU to make informed purchasing decisions.  
 

• The revised UCPD bans generic environmental claims (e.g., ‘eco-friendly’, ‘nature’s friend’ etc.) unless a company can prove an excellent environmental performance (an EU Ecolabel or a type I ecolabelling schemes recognised in an EU Member State). Furthermore, the directive bans the use of broad sustainability claims, such as ‘responsible’, ‘conscious’, ‘sustainable’ under any circumstances, since such terms encompass many different aspects of sustainability (environmental, social, economical, etc.).  
   
• Both directives also apply to claims that highlight voluntary support for climate protection projects beyond the company’s own value chain. These will have to meet stricter criteria in future, including that: generic claims referring to offsetting or climate neutrality (e.g., ‘climate-neutral’, ‘emission-free’) will generally no longer be allowed. 
   
• Under Green Claims Directive, companies wanting to make an environmental claim will be obliged to substantiate it with sufficient scientific evidence (emphasis is put on LCA approach and primary data) and verify it in a given EU Member State before the claim can be used on the product on the company website. 
   
• According to the EU Parliament’s position (not a final law yet), companies will be allowed to mention avoidance and carbon removal schemes if they have already reduced their emissions as much as possible and use these schemes for residual emissions only. The carbon credits of the schemes must be certified and be of high quality. 
   
• Claims must clearly distinguish between the outcome of the company’s own reductions and those achieved through project funding.
   
• Both directives are also putting governance criteria for environmental labelling schemes.  
   

Companies that violate the new standards will be fined.  

The new rules are not yet law. Although the EU Parliament has already adopted the revised UCPD, the specific provisions in the Green Claims Directive might still change, as this directive is still going through the legislative pipeline. 

The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive is expected to come into force in all Member States as early as Q3 2026. The Green Claims Directive is expected to enter into force in 2028 at the latest. 

The Green Claims Directive applies to all companies established in Europe, including subsidiaries. Only small companies with an annual turnover of less than 2 million euros and fewer than ten employees will be exempt. The EU plans special support measures for SMEs. 

Although the EU Green Claims Directive is primarily aimed at companies within the European Union, it is also relevant for Swiss companies that export their products and services to the EU. These companies must ensure that their environmental claims meet the new EU standards. Environment-related claims like “climate neutral” and “environmentally friendly” must be backed by scientific evidence and verified by third parties. The regulations are less strict for Swiss SMEs with fewer than ten employees and turnover of less than two million euros, but they can volunteer to have their claims verified.

Switzerland has also tightened up its own regulations in an effort to combat greenwashing. In 2024, the CO₂ Act and the Unfair Competition Act (UCA) were amended. From 1 January 2025, it will be considered unfair competition to make false or unsubstantiated claims about the climate impact of products or services. Companies must support all environmental claims with objective and verifiable data. This regulation applies not only to large companies that are required to publish sustainability reports but also to advertising statements and claims made voluntarily.

To promote the implementation of these measures, the Swiss Foundation for Consumer Protection has set up a platform via which consumers can report suspected cases of greenwashing. The goal of this initiative is to shine a light on misleading green claims and increase transparency for consumers.

Since 1 January 2023, France has been subject to a law (Art. L229-68 du code de l’environnement) that imposes strict conditions on environment-related advertising. Terms like “climate-neutral” and similar formulations are only allowed in advertising for a product or service if the company in question:  

• issues an annual report on the greenhouse gas emissions of the product or service, in accordance with NF EN ISO 14067 (or an equivalent standard) 
   
• has a 10-year plan setting out how the greenhouse gas emissions of the product or service are to be continuously reduced, including quantified annual reduction targets 
   
• issues a report with details on the projects that will serve to compensate the remaining greenhouse gas emissions. This must include details such as cost per tonne of CO₂ equivalent and modalities for ensuring there is no double counting.  
   
• makes a summary of all these points publicly accessible, on its website for example  

With the “Engaged for Impact”label, myclimate has developed a label that already fulfils the new requirements, enabling companies to prove specifically, in accordance with scientific standards and verified by independent third parties, that they are saving as many emissions in host countries as they are emitting themselves. This puts credibility around their own reduction measures up front in their communications.  

Experts from myclimate put together carbon footprint calculations, subject to plausibility checks, which serve as the basis for calculations. Products and services that bear the impact label will continue to fulfil applicable criteria, even when the tighter regulations are introduced.  

You can read all about the myclimate impact label here. 

_Sources: 

_UCPD:

_{https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/commissions/imco/inag/2023/10-25/IMCO_AG(2023)756006_EN.pdf} 

_{Green Claims Directive} 

_{Texts adopted - Substantiation and communication of explicit environmental claims (Green Claims Directive) - Tuesday, 12 March 2024 (europa.eu)} 

_{2023/0085(COD) - 22/03/2023 - Substantiation and communication of explicit environmental claims (Green Claims Directive) (europa.eu)} 

_{SwissRecycle - Neue Green Claims-Richtlinie der EU} 

_{TaylorWessing - New EU Directive on “green claims”} 

You can find further exciting information on the subject of climate change and climate protection in our climate booklet