New EU Greenwashing Rules Apply From 27 September: What Do They Mean for Sustainability and Impact Reports?

27 September 2026 is an important date for sustainability, marketing, and legal professionals. This is when the Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive (also known as the ECGT Directive or EmpCo) will start applying across the EU.

No EU regulation is straightforward at first glance. The European Commission’s Questions and Answers document provides valuable clarification on the scope and application of EmpCo. [1] This blog draws on the Commission’s Q&A to consider some of the key questions that businesses may need to address in practice, with a particular focus on claims in sustainability, corporate responsibility and social impact reports.

Does EmpCo apply to B2B reports?

EmpCo’s primary aim is to strengthen consumer protection by improving the quality of information about environmental and social impacts of products.[2]

Article 3(1) of the Directive specifies that it applies to ‘unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices.’

However, several Member States, including Germany, France and Spain, have transposed the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (which was amended by EmpCo) in a way that means that some of these rules (at least in part) apply to B2B practices.[3]

Article 2(d) clarifies that ‘commercial practices’ encompass any act, omission, or communication directly connected with the promotion, sale, or supply of a product to consumers.

Official corporate sustainability reports, for example, those required under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) are exempt from the EmpCo rules because they are aimed at regulators and investors rather than everyday consumers and therefore are not classified as B2C commercial practices.

However, when a marketing team pulls a metric or environmental claim out of their CSRD report and places it on a consumer-facing website, social media post, or product label, that claim then may fall under EmpCo rules.

Article 2(o) specifies that any text in the context of commercial communication, which states or implies that a brand has a positive impact on the environment or has improved its impact over time, does constitute an environmental claim.

General sustainability/corporate social responsibility reports that can be found in ‘About Us’ sections of websites can be interpreted as marketing materials that seek to influence potential clients’ purchasing decisions, and therefore might contain environmental claims that are covered by the new EmpCo rules.

2. Does EmpCo ban generic claims?

Recital 9 of the ECGT Directive refers to examples of generic environmental claims such as ‘environmentally friendly’, ‘eco-friendly’, ‘green’, ‘nature’s friend’, ‘ecological’, ‘environmentally correct’, ‘climate friendly’, ‘gentle on the environment’, ‘carbon friendly’, ‘energy efficient’, ‘biodegradable’, ‘biobased’ or similar statements that suggest excellent environmental performance. These generic environmental claims are prohibited if recognised excellent environmental performance cannot be demonstrated.[4]

Outside the EU Ecolabel and the Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP) regulation, what constitutes ‘excellent environmental performance’ in the EU can be hard to determine with certainty.

The plan for the Green Claims Directive, which was meant to complement EmpCo by giving instructions on how to provide evidence, was shelved in 2025, allegedly due to a major disagreement between the Commission and EU governments over excessive reporting obligations for businesses.[5]

Sustainability labels and certification schemes that some businesses have used to confirm their environmental performance are coming under intense scrutiny, and must now be based on an established certification scheme or issued by a public authority.[6]

The wording of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive ‘If there is no space to specify the environmental claim, then the claim should generally not be made’ remains. In sustainability reports, there is space to specify environmental claims, and these specifications are expected to be considerable if any environmental claims are made.

3. How does EmpCo affect offsetting claims?

Recital 12 of the ECGT Directive clarifies that claims about products based on the offsetting of greenhouse gas emissions, such as those asserting that a good or service is ‘carbon-neutral’, ‘carbon positive’, ‘climate net zero’, ‘climate compensated’, ‘reduced climate impact’ or ‘limited CO2 footprint’, are prohibited. Such claims can only be allowed when they are based on the actual lifecycle impact of the product in question within the product’s own value chain.

The brand can state that it has ‘reduced its CO2 impact’ only in relation to its own product lifecycle, where such improvements are prominent and verifiable.

Carbon credit projects and other environmental initiatives can be mentioned in a sustainability report, as long as information is transparent and not misleading. [7]

4. What does EmpCo say about future claims?

Under Article 1(2)(b) of the ECGT Directive (clarified in Recital 4 of the ECGT Directive), claims about products or at company level related to future environmental performance, including in the form of a transition to carbon or climate neutrality, are prohibited, unless all of the following are met:

Claims are clear, objective and readily available,
Verifiable commitments are set out in a detailed and realistic implementation plan,
This plan includes allocation of resources,
The plan is regularly verified by an independent third party expert, whose findings are made available to consumers.

This rule is significant for sustainability reports, which often include long-term environmental goals.

5. What about social claims?

Article 1(2)(a) of the ECGT Directive explicitly adds claims regarding ‘social characteristics’ to the list of main characteristics of a product in respect of which a trader’s practices can be considered misleading.

Such information can also relate to:

Quality and fairness of working conditions,
Safety of the work environment,
respect for human rights,
equal treatment and opportunities for all,
gender equality, inclusion and diversity,
and contributions to social initiatives or to ethical commitments, such as animal welfare.”[8]

These matters are often included in firms’ sustainability and corporate responsibility reports.

It’s important for sustainability teams to make sure any such claims also have substantial and verifiable backing. Notably, article 1(1)(b) of the ECGT Directive specifies that claims can’t include aspects that are mandatory by law.

6. How big are the sanctions?

Enforcement of the ECGT lies with national competent authorities. Following the Modernisation Directive, Member States must provide for maximum fines of at least 4% of the trader’s annual turnover in the Member States concerned, or at least €2 million where information on turnover is not available.[9]

More information about local laws and country-specific regulations, including local sanctions, can be found via an EmpCo implementation tracker designed by CMS.

7. What can companies do now?

Companies should prepare for greater scrutiny of their environmental and social claims by:

Reviewing all marketing and sustainability communications
Avoiding vague environmental claims and making sure that every claim is substantiated (B2C and B2B in some countries/contexts)
Not including offsets for your claims in your greenhouse gas emission claims
Making sure that any future claims are verified and have appropriate resources attached to all future plans
Seeking advice from greenwashing experts, and double checking every claim with their legal teams.

8. How can Private Goodness help?

Making sure that all of your claims are EmpCo-compliant is a team effort: legal, sustainability and marketing teams should all work together.

Private Goodness offers greenwashing training to equip your team with the latest knowledge of greenwashing regulation, legal decisions from greenwashing cases around the world, and the best practice in communicating environmental claims.

We also act as an independent second pair of eyes to help you ensure that your claims are backed by robust diligence while protecting the hard work you put into your sustainability programme. Rather than just flagging risks, we actively provide constructive suggestions to improve your report if any potential issues arise.

If you would like to find out more or to book a bespoke training session on EmpCo, please have a look at www.privategoodness.com or email info@privategoodness.com