The EU's anti-greenwashing directive: what EmpCo means for corporate communications

Directive (EU) 2024/825, commonly known as EmpCo or the Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive (ECGT), becomes applicable on 27 September 2026. Adopted on 28 February 2024, it tightens the rules governing environmental and social claims for any company communicating with the general public. Member States were due to transpose it into national law by 27 March 2026; France, like several others, is not expected to publish its transposing legislation until late the year. That delay is no reason for complacency: a number of practices now explicitly targeted by EmpCo can already be sanctioned under existing rules on unfair commercial practices.

What does EmpCo now prohibit?

Several practices have been added to the blacklist of unfair commercial practices, including:

• displaying a sustainability label or eco-score without independent third-party verification (labels issued by public authorities are exempt);
• making a generic environmental or social claim without being able to demonstrate the recognised excellent performance it implies (for example, "environmentally friendly", "natural", "eco-friendly");
• presenting future environmental or social targets without a detailed, realistic implementation plan (measurable objectives, timelines, resources) verified by an independent third party;
• presenting a minor feature of a product or its packaging a distinctive advantage of the product;
• claiming carbon neutrality based solely on emissions offsetting;
• presenting a legal requirement as a distinctive advantage of the offer;
• concealing the negative effect of a software update on a good's functioning;
• presenting an unnecessary software update as essential;
• marketing a feature that deliberately shortens a product's lifespan;
• making false claims about a product's durability or intensity of use;
• presenting a good as repairable when it is not;
• encouraging the replacement of a good in the absence of any genuine technical need;
• concealing the effects of using non-original spare parts on a good's functioning.

For the full list of practices covered, see the directive itself: Directive (EU) 2024/825.

A commercial practice is now assessed as a whole, with text, visuals and context taken together. A claim backed by solid data can still be misleading if its presentation suggests a disproportionate environmental or social benefit. A message announcing a reduction in plastic use, illustrated with a green leaf, may be challenged on formal grounds even where the the underlying facts are accurate; a mismatch that can itself amount to greenwashing.

Who does EmpCo apply to?

Any company communicating with the general public on environmental or social matters falls within scope, including on social media, even where the communication has no commercial intent. Mandatory regulatory disclosures and investor communications remain outside the directive's scope.

However, as soon as data from a sustainability report is reused in a commercial communication, it falls within EmpCo's scope. Marketing and communications teams therefore need a clear view of where reporting on performance ends and non-compliance risk begins, a boundary that EVEA's training module on communicating environmental performance without greenwashing addresses directly.

Are sustainability labels and eco-scores affected?

Companies holding a sustainability label or an eco-score may reasonably ask whether their scheme falls within the scope of this obligation, and what action is required to comply.

Labels and scoring systems will need to meet a set of requirements to demonstrate their robustness:

1. consulting experts and stakeholders when the standard or specification is created and updated;
2. ensuring minimum conditions of credibility, namely methodological and operational robustness;
3. providing transparent information on the certification system;
4. making certification accessible to all;
5. establishing a non-conformity procedure for failure to meet the standard's requirements;
6. certifying products, services or organisations through an independent third party;
7. complying with the specific requirements on environmental or social claims whenever these are associated with the label or score.

These requirements do not apply to labels or scores established by public authorities. In the textile sector, this interacts with a separate national obligation: since October 2025, any brand already displaying a private environmental score on its products in France must also display the official environmental score (the "Coût environnemental", or "environmental cost" score), with both schemes required to meet converging robustness criteria.

Environmental and social claims: why evidence matters

The directive strengthens the requirement to back communications with evidence: companies must now demonstrate the truthfulness of their claims, so that consumers can make informed choices. Robust evidence can take several forms: an environmental or social assessment report based on a scientific, transparent methodology; a recognised label certified by an independent third party; or quantified consumption data (water, energy, raw materials). In every case, the evidence must make it possible to trace the claim back to its source. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is one of the most solid evidentiary tools available for substantiating this type of claim. We recently supported a client who wanted to make public claims about reducing its carbon footprint, in a B2C context. The LCA revealed a impact shifting onto other indicators, less intuitive for the general public but equally significant. The final message was refocused on the indicators most relevant in light of the LCA results, rather than on carbon reduction alone. This outcome illustrates how a properly conducted LCA can either substantiate a claim or  undermine it.

Methodological robustness, however, is not sufficient on its own: EmpCo imposes requirements on form as much as on substance. A quantified claim, even one fully justified by an LCA, must still comply with presentation rules, in wording as much as in visuals, to remain lawful.

One further point on the shelf life of evidence: it must be updated regularly, since any assessment is only valid for a given point in time. Enforcement of these rules is far from theoretical: France's consumer protection authority, the DGCCRF, has already sanctioned or issued formal notice to 15% of the more than 3,000 establishments it inspected in 2023 and 2024. Compliance with EmpCo is therefore not a status achieved once and for all, but a discipline to be maintained over time. That discipline starts with with assessing how exposed your current communications are to EmpCo's requirements; an exercise EVEA can help you carry out.

Mathilde Audrain, LCA consultant and Head of Responsible Communications