Starting September 27, 2026, vague sustainability claims in the EU will no longer be a reputation risk – they’ll be illegal, with high fines on the horizon.
The Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive—short: EmpCo—was adopted by the EU in March 2024 and is designed to reduce greenwashing, drive sustainable consumption, and rebuild consumer trust in corporate sustainability claims. And it changes the rules of the game for anyone communicating with consumers.
What EmpCo actually regulates
At its core, the directive introduces six absolute bans, meaning no case-by-case assessment is needed—and claims that fall under them are particularly easy to challenge legally:
- Using sustainability labels that don’t meet strict transparency and third-party verification criteria.
- Making general environmental claims—like “eco-friendly,” “green,” “sustainable,” or “climate-friendly”—without substantiating them through recognised environmental performance standards (eg. EU Ecolabel), or specifying them clearly and prominently on the same medium.
- Misrepresenting the scope of an environmental claim.
- Making environmental impact claims based on carbon offsetting.
- Presenting legally required product features as a special selling point.
- Making misleading claims about software updates, durability, or repairability.
Beyond these bans, future-facing claims like “climate-neutral by 2040” or “net zero by 2050” will be heavily restricted. They require a detailed, realistic implementation plan with measurable targets, allocated resources, and regular independent verification—publicly available to consumers. Notably, even SBTi-validated targets don’t automatically meet all requirements.
Social claims are also in scope. Statements about working conditions, human rights, diversity, or animal welfare must not be misleading when positioned as key features of a product or service.
What’s at stake
The consequences are threefold. Legally, fines can reach up to €50,000—or up to 4% of annual revenue for companies earning more than €1.25 million. In Germany, competitors, consumer protection organisations like DUH, and civil courts can all take action. From a reputation point of view, EmpCo gives a clear regulatory framework to what was previously a grey zone—making greenwashing scandals more tangible and more likely. And operationally, the scope covers all B2C communication: websites, packaging, social media, sales materials, podcasts, trade fairs, image campaigns. The only exception? Sustainability reports aimed at investors or CSRD compliance, not consumers.
What needs to change
Here’s the important part: EmpCo does not ban talking about sustainability. It bans talking vaguely about sustainability. This means the era of “sustainability is in our DNA,” “together for the planet,” and “we’re making the world a better place” is over. These claims are too broad to survive the new regulation—and frankly, they were already too generic to differentiate.
What works instead follows three principles. First, be specific rather than generic: not “we are sustainable,” but “100% of our production energy comes from verified renewable sources.” Second, describe a process rather than a state: not “we are climate-neutral,” but “our CO₂ emissions across scopes 1–3 have decreased by 34% since 2021—here’s how.” Third, be honest rather than too broad: not “our almost 100% green logistics,” but “we haven’t yet found a way to fully decarbonise our logistics, but we’re working on it.”
On the product level, don’t make product-wide claims based on partial performance—if the packaging is sustainable, only the packaging may be promoted as such—and comparative claims now require a transparent methodology that average consumers can understand.
Why this is an opportunity, not a threat
The solution is not to say nothing. The solution is to work out clearly and specifically what a company and its products actually stand for.
EmpCo creates three strategic effects worth paying attention to. It clears the market of noise: when vague claims disappear, consumers can finally compare meaningfully, and only substantive communication remains. It turns credibility into a competitive advantage: trust becomes the deciding factor—not just for consumers, but for employer branding and investor relations. And it sharpens strategy through forced clarity: the regulation acts as a strategic audit tool, revealing whether sustainability performance and communication are actually aligned.
For brands, this means moving away from “sustainability” as a generic brand core and towards a concrete, ownable facet of sustainability—whether that’s circularity, durability, natural materials, or local production. Less complexity for teams, less complexity for consumers, more differentiation.
How we help
At NEW STANDARD.S, we’ve been working on EmpCo-compliance projects across fashion, sport, food, and tourism. Our approach combines sustainability expertise with brand and communication thinking—and a legal partner for regulatory certainty.
1 — Green Claims Check
We review sustainability-related claims across all channels—text, labels, visuals—assess their risk level, and document the check with concrete, actionable recommendations. From a brand and communication perspective, we develop and write alternative claims that are both EmpCo-compliant and customer-relevant, in your brand’s tone of voice.
2 — Comms Toolkit
To make sustainability, marketing, and legal teams speak the same language, we develop a communication toolkit with verified, EmpCo-compliant claims, practical do’s and don’ts for legal safety and customer relevance, and a framework for easy application across all channels and teams.
September 2026 is closer than it looks. If you want to get ahead of the regulation—and turn compliance into a communication advantage—let’s talk.