On September 27, 2026, the EU's Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive (Directive (EU) 2024/825, often shortened to EmpCo or ECGT) becomes enforceable across all EU member states. EmpCo amends the EU's Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD) and Consumer Rights Directive (CRD) to outlaw a long list of sustainability marketing practices that have become routine in fashion and retail: generic claims like “eco-friendly” or “carbon neutral,” self-invented green badges, and future net-zero pledges with no plan behind them.
If your brand markets in the EU and makes any environmental claim, this directive is not optional reading. It is the law that decides whether your next campaign, hangtag, or product page is compliant or a liability.
EmpCo (Directive (EU) 2024/825) becomes applicable on September 27, 2026, banning unsubstantiated environmental claims, self-created sustainability labels, offset-only climate neutral claims, and vague durability or repairability marketing.
With the European Commission having announced its intention to withdraw the separate Green Claims Directive in June 2025, EmpCo is now the only EU-wide anti greenwashing law with a confirmed enforcement date.
This article covers what's banned, how the future performance and durability rules work, what enforcement and penalties look like, and how traceability data lets you substantiate the claims you keep making.
EmpCo is an EU directive that bans unsubstantiated or misleading environmental and durability claims by amending two existing consumer protection laws rather than creating a new stand-alone regime. The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD) gets a new, detailed list of “unfair commercial practices” specific to sustainability marketing, and the Consumer Rights Directive (CRD) gets new pre-contractual information duties around durability, repairability, and software updates.
The timeline is fixed: the directive entered into force on March 26, 2024, EU member states had until March 27, 2026 to transpose it into national law, and it becomes applicable, meaning enforceable against your marketing, on September 27, 2026.
EmpCo matters more today because it is now the only binding EU law directly targeting greenwashing. The European Commission formally announced its intention to withdraw the separate Green Claims Directive proposal on June 20, 2025, following pushback from the European People's Party and concerns from SMEs about mandatory third-party verification burdens. That proposal would have set more detailed, EU-harmonized rules for how environmental claims and labels get verified.
With the Green Claims Directive shelved, EmpCo is the rulebook brands actually have to follow. It's less prescriptive about verification mechanics than the proposal, but it is real, it has a hard enforcement date, and it is backed by the UCPD's existing national enforcement infrastructure across all 27 member states.
WHICH SUSTAINABILITY CLAIMS DOES THE DIRECTIVE BAN?
EmpCo bans five categories of environmental claims that lack proper substantiation, and most brands are currently making at least one of them somewhere in their marketing.
- Generic environmental claims: Terms like “eco-friendly,” “green,” “carbon-friendly,” or “nature positive” are banned unless the product can demonstrate recognized excellent environmental performance behind the claim.
- Offset-based claims: Statements such as “climate neutral” that rest solely on carbon offsetting, rather than actual emissions reduction, are prohibited.
- Unverified sustainability labels: Self-created or brand-invented green badges are out. Labels are only permitted if they're based on a recognized certification scheme or established by a public authority, and independently verified.
- Part-to-whole misrepresentation: Claiming a product is “made with recycled material” when only the packaging (not the product itself) is recycled is now a banned practice.
- Legal requirements marketed as features: Advertising something like “BPA-free” as a differentiator when it's already a legal requirement is prohibited.
WHAT ARE THE NEW RULES FOR DURABILITY AND FUTURE PERFORMANCE CLAIMS?
EmpCo treats durability, repairability, and forward-looking climate pledges as their own category of risk, separate from point-in-time environmental claims. Under the CRD amendments, it's now a banned practice to claim a product is repairable when it isn't, to market features that deliberately limit a product's durability, or to withhold information about how a software update will affect a connected product's performance or lifespan, the planned obsolescence problem.
Future performance claims get the strictest treatment. A statement like “carbon neutral by 2030” is only allowed if it's backed by a clear, objective, publicly available, and verifiable commitment, an implementation plan with measurable and time-bound targets, and regular independent third-party verification of progress. A pledge on a sustainability page with no underlying plan is exactly the kind of claim EmpCo was written to eliminate.
WHAT HAPPENS IF YOUR BRAND DOESN'T COMPLY?
Non-compliance is enforced at the national level through each member state's existing UCPD enforcement bodies, meaning your exposure will vary somewhat by country, but the EU-wide floor is significant. For widespread infringements, the UCPD framework sets penalties of at least 4% of the trader's annual turnover in the member states concerned, or a fixed alternative amount where turnover data isn't available1. Ireland's Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, for example, can issue compliance notices, fixed payment notices, and court prohibition orders in addition to the turnover-based fine.
The financial exposure is one problem. The reputational one may be bigger: a public enforcement action or prohibition order against a specific claim is precisely the kind of story that outlives the campaign it was attached to.
HOW CAN TRACEABILITY DATA HELP YOU SUBSTANTIATE GREEN CLAIMS?
The common thread across every banned practice in EmpCo is a missing evidence trail. The directive doesn't ban sustainability marketing, it bans sustainability marketing that can't be proven at the level of the specific product, material, or claim being made. That's a data problem before it's a legal one.
This is where traceability infrastructure becomes the compliance layer, not just a supply chain tool. TrusTrace connects sustainability claims to the underlying supply chain data, certifications, material composition, and chain of custody records, so a claim like “made with recycled cotton” is backed by verifiable data down to the specific SKU rather than a brand-level marketing assertion. The question isn't whether your brand has a sustainability story to tell, it's whether you can prove it claim by claim, product by product, the moment a regulator or a customer asks.
For brands preparing for September 27, the practical starting point is a claim-by-claim audit: every environmental statement currently live in EU-facing marketing, matched against the evidence that would need to support it under EmpCo. TrusTrace's webinar on Navigating Green Claims and Digital Product Passport Compliance Solution both walk through how that evidence gets structured and attached at the product level.
KEY ACTIONS BEFORE SEPTEMBER 27, 2026
- Audit every environmental claim currently live in EU-facing marketing, packaging, and product pages, and flag anything generic, unsubstantiated, or offset-based.
- Verify your sustainability labels are tied to a recognized certification scheme or public authority, not an internally created badge.
- Document the evidence behind every remaining claim at the product or SKU level, not just at the brand or collection level.
- Build a real implementation plan behind any future-dated pledge (net zero, carbon neutral by [year]), with measurable, time-bound targets and a path to independent verification.
- Check national enforcement specifics in your key EU markets, since penalty mechanics and enforcement bodies vary by member state even though the underlying rules are harmonized.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Is the EU Green Claims Directive still happening?
No. The European Commission formally announced its intention to withdraw the Green Claims Directive proposal on June 20, 2025. The Empowering Consumers Directive (EmpCo, Directive (EU) 2024/825) is now the operative EU law on greenwashing.
When does the Empowering Consumers Directive apply?
EmpCo entered into force on March 26, 2024, and EU member states had until March 27, 2026 to transpose it into national law. It becomes applicable and enforceable against marketing practices on September 27, 2026.
Can brands still use terms like “eco-friendly” after September 2026?
Only with substantiation. Generic claims such as “eco-friendly,” “green,” or “nature positive” are banned unless the product can demonstrate recognized excellent environmental performance backing the claim.
Does EmpCo require third-party verification for every claim?
Not for every claim. Sustainability labels specifically must be based on a certification scheme or established by a public authority and independently verified. General environmental claims require documented, verifiable proof, and future performance claims require regular independent third-party verification of progress.
What are the penalties for non-compliance with EmpCo?
EmpCo is enforced through each member state's national UCPD enforcement framework. For widespread infringements, penalties reach at least 4% of the trader's annual turnover in the member states concerned, alongside compliance notices, fixed payment notices, or court prohibition orders depending on the country.
TALK TO TRUSTRACE
TrusTrace helps brands and retailers connect sustainability claims to verifiable supply chain data, so every environmental statement you make in the EU market is backed by evidence at the product level, not just brand-level marketing copy. Learn more about TrusTrace's Product Claims Capabilities or speak with one of our experts about auditing your current claims before September 27, 2026.
Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Please consult legal professionals for guidance specific to your situation.
