The EU’s new EmpCo directive – what you need to know

The EU’s new EmpCo Directive will enter into force on 27 September 2026 and will impact all B2C businesses. The directive’s purpose is clear: to empower consumers by enabling them to make well-informed, sustainable choices and to prevent greenwashing in marketing linked to environmental and sustainability claims.

Over the past few years the terms green, sustainable and climate-smart have become increasingly common in ads and product information. But how can consumers be sure that all of these claims are actually true? The EmpCo Directive (Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition) was produced to regulate this type of marketing and thereby help consumers make real green choices. Companies will, for example, not be permitted to make vague environmental claims; their claims must instead be specific and verifiable when presented to consumers.

Clearer rules for environmental claims

Once the directive is applied the following types of environmental claims will no longer be permitted:

• Generic environmental claims (using terms such as “climate-smart”, “green”, bio-based” or “energy-efficient”) unless they are specific and verifiable when presented to consumers.
• Sustainability labels that are not based on an independent certification scheme or have not been established by public authorities.
• Environmental claims that suggest an entire product or business is sustainable, when in reality only a certain part is.
• Environmental claims based on offsetting of greenhouse gas emissions where a company claims that a product has a neutral, reduced or positive environmental and climate impact in terms of greenhouse gas emissions.
• Marketing referring to claims on future environmental performance.

A claim that says “80% of the materials is derived from recycled sources” and is supported by verifiable evidence is not considered misleading and is therefore permitted.

High standards for precision and transparency

The practical implications of the directive are that sales and marketing materials – such as website texts, product descriptions, ad campaigns or labels – must be worded to provide greater precision. Companies must be able to support environmental claims presented in this context with clear documentation to avoid the risk of the claims being categorised as misleading marketing.

Note that the EmpCo Directive mainly covers B2C communication, but the effects are likely to be felt in B2B as well, with credibility and transparency requirements continuing to increase for suppliers and partners.

Precision also applies in other languages

When rules become more stringent, the need for precision in communication also increases – and especially for multilingual materials. An environmental claim that is accurate and verifiable in Swedish must be equally accurate in a German, French or English version. A translation error could in the worst case scenario result in a claim approved in the original language being misleading or even prohibited in another language. This is where Novoterm can help – get in touch with us!