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Green Claims Directive: EU Anti-Greenwashing Rules and the DPP

What is the Green Claims Directive? The substantiation and verification duties for environmental claims, the current status after the announced withdrawal, the already-adopted EmpCo Directive applying from September 2026, and how the Digital Product Passport supplies verifiable data for green claims.

Author: myDPP Team

Green Claims Directive: EU Anti-Greenwashing Rules and the DPP

Key takeaways

The Green Claims Directive is an EU proposal that would require companies to back up voluntary environmental claims such as “climate neutral”, “eco-friendly” or “made from recycled material” with scientific evidence, and to have them verified by an independent body before use. Its goal is to stop greenwashing - a European Commission study found that around half of all green claims in the EU were vague or misleading and 40 percent were entirely unsubstantiated. The proposal has been in legal limbo since mid-2025: the Commission announced in June 2025 that it intended to withdraw the draft, then clarified that it would not fully drop it. Regardless of that, the already-adopted EmpCo Directive (Directive (EU) 2024/825) applies from 27 September 2026 and bans generic environmental claims and offset-only “climate neutral” statements. This article explains both instruments - and why verifiable, product-level data from the Digital Product Passport (DPP) is the foundation of any defensible environmental claim.

If you want to get familiar with the Digital Product Passport first, we recommend the introductory article Digital Product Passport in 15 minutes: what a DPP is and why the EU introduces it.

What is the Green Claims Directive?

The Green Claims Directive (officially: proposal for a Directive on the substantiation and communication of explicit environmental claims, COM/2023/166) was tabled by the European Commission on 22 March 2023. It complements the EmpCo Directive adopted shortly before and targets one specific problem: anyone who makes a voluntary environmental claim must be able to prove it before using it.

The background is a market failure. A 2020 Commission study found that 53 percent of green claims in the EU were vague, misleading or unfounded and 40 percent were entirely unsubstantiated. On top of that, more than 230 different environmental labels were in circulation with wildly different levels of rigour. Consumers could barely tell which claim rested on real data and which was pure marketing.

What problem does the directive solve?

The Green Claims Directive tackles four weak points:

  • Unsubstantiated claims: statements like “climate neutral” or “eco” with no verifiable data behind them.
  • Vague wording: blanket terms with no link to a concrete, measurable environmental performance.
  • Label proliferation: eco-labels without transparent award criteria.
  • Lack of comparability: claims that cannot be traced back to a life cycle or a recognised method.

What the Green Claims Directive would require

In the version that was being negotiated, the proposal sets out several core duties:

1. Scientific substantiation

Every explicit environmental claim must rest on recognised scientific evidence and robust data. The underlying environmental aspect (e.g. recycled content, carbon footprint, durability) must be shown to be significant across the life cycle.

2. Independent verification

Before a claim may be used, it should be checked by an independent, accredited verifier and confirmed with a certificate of conformity. This up-front verification was the main point of criticism, because it is seen as burdensome and costly.

3. Transparent communication

Consumers should be able to access the evidence easily - for example through a link or QR code that leads to the underlying data. Eco-labels should only be allowed if they rest on a certified scheme.

Current status: withdrawal announced, then softened

The path of the Green Claims Directive has been unusual. After Parliament and Council fixed their negotiating positions in 2024, 2025 brought a turnaround:

  • 20 June 2025: the European Commission announced its intention to withdraw the proposal. One trigger was a letter from the EPP group criticising the planned verification duty as a disproportionate burden, especially for small companies. The trilogue scheduled for the same period was cancelled.
  • 1 July 2025: the Commission clarified that the proposal would not be fully dropped. Any progress would depend on excluding micro-enterprises from the scope.

As a result, the Green Claims Directive is not in force in mid-2026 and its further course is open. Companies should watch it, but should not assume that stricter green-advertising rules are still far off - because the decisive obligation already applies.

The rule already in force: the EmpCo Directive from September 2026

While the Green Claims Directive stalls, its sister directive was adopted long ago. The EmpCo Directive (“Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition”, Directive (EU) 2024/825) entered into force on 26 March 2024, must be transposed into national law by 27 March 2026, and applies from 27 September 2026. It amends the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive and bans, among other things:

  • generic environmental claims without proven, recognised excellent environmental performance (e.g. “eco-friendly”, “green”, “eco” with no evidence),
  • statements such as “climate neutral” that rest solely on the offsetting of emissions,
  • sustainability labels not based on a certified scheme or a public authority,
  • claims about the whole product when only part of it is concerned.

For companies this means: even without the Green Claims Directive, environmental claims must be provable from September 2026. The data foundation both instruments require is essentially the same.

Why green claims and the Digital Product Passport belong together

Both the (future) Green Claims Directive and the (current) EmpCo Directive ultimately require the same thing: verifiable, product-level data that supports an environmental claim. That data is exactly what the Digital Product Passport holds.

  • Claim “X percent recycled material” - stored in the DPP as material composition and recycled content.
  • Claim “carbon footprint of Y” - documented in the DPP as the product carbon footprint.
  • Claim “durable and repairable” - evidenced in the DPP through repairability, spare parts and lifespan.

The DPP is becoming mandatory for many product groups anyway under the Ecodesign Regulation (ESPR). Structure this data cleanly, at product level and machine-readable, and you can use it twice: as the mandatory content of the passport and as robust evidence for every environmental claim. The QR code that leads to the DPP is also the transparency link that the EU expects behind green advertising.

An important clarification: the Digital Product Passport replaces neither the verification under the Green Claims Directive nor the advertising bans of the EmpCo Directive. It provides the auditable data foundation on which a claim can be substantiated in the first place. myDPP maps this data foundation at product level and makes it accessible through a single QR code.

What should companies do now?

1. Inventory your environmental claims

Capture every environmental claim on packaging, website and in advertising. For each claim, note what it rests on.

2. Review generic claims

Remove or sharpen vague terms like “eco-friendly” or “climate neutral” that will be prohibited or heavily restricted under the EmpCo Directive from September 2026.

3. Build the data foundation

For every provable claim, store the underlying data - recycled content, carbon footprint, origin, lifespan - in a structured, product-level way.

Connect each claim to a traceable source and make it transparently available through a link or QR code.

5. Merge DPP and claims data

Use a single product-data source for the Digital Product Passport and your environmental claims, so evidence is maintained once and reused many times.

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

What is the Green Claims Directive in simple terms?

It is an EU proposal that would require companies to substantiate voluntary environmental claims scientifically and have them independently verified before use, in order to prevent greenwashing.

Is the Green Claims Directive already in force?

No. The proposal has been in limbo since mid-2025: the Commission announced a withdrawal but then softened that stance. In mid-2026 the directive is not in force and its further course is open.

Which green-advertising rule already applies?

The EmpCo Directive (Directive (EU) 2024/825) applies from 27 September 2026. It bans generic environmental claims without evidence and “climate neutral” statements that rest only on offsetting.

What does the Green Claims Directive have to do with the Digital Product Passport?

Both rely on verifiable product data. The DPP holds recycled content, carbon footprint, origin and lifespan - exactly the data needed to back up an environmental claim. It does not replace verification, but it provides the data foundation.

Does this also apply to small companies?

The EmpCo bans apply to companies generally. For the Green Claims Directive, exempting micro-enterprises was one of the sticking points; the final scope depends on how the process continues.

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