Woman searching information about the product & technology using smart phone while shopping for multi vitamin & health supplements in sup

Blog
Sustainability

Preparing for The EU’s New Era of Sustainability Claims

Learn what the new EU legislation on environmental and sustainability claims means for your business and the steps you can take now to prepare.

Preparing for the EU’s new era of sustainability claims

Organizations operating and selling into the EU market are on the brink of a marked change in how they can communicate and promote the sustainability and environmental claims of their products and services. In an effort empower more sustainable purchasing and address greenwashing, where organizations make false or misleading sustainability and environmental statements, the EU is introducing The Directive on Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition (ECGT), which will prohibit misleading environmental claims and unsubstantiated sustainability labels.

This means that after 27 September 2026, any organization that markets or sells products to EU consumers, regardless of where the business is based, will need to be able to verify their sustainability claims or risk being subject to fines, restricted access to the EU market, costs associated with retrospectively updating marketing materials and packaging, and significant reputational damage.

Consumers, many of whom want transparency when making purchasing decisions, will welcome this move as a way to know which companies they can trust. Previous BSI research (1) found that over three fifths (62%) of people seek out sustainability and environmental claims when purchasing goods but 70% are conscious of these claims being misleading. This concern often influences action, with a third (33%) of the 8,000 people surveyed globally saying a lack of trust in claims would prevent them from making more sustainable purchases (2).

Reinforcing the EU’s new approach, consumers are open to trusting claims where the right evidence is provided; nearly three fifths (59%) of people say a recognized label would help to overcome greenwashing concerns and make them more likely to believe sustainability and environmental claims (2).

So, for organizations selling to the EU market, compliance doesn’t only protect you from increased costs and regulatory risk. It also presents commercial opportunities to stand out in an increasingly scrutinized market and win over customers who are actively looking for sustainability claims they can trust.

Read on to learn what the new regulation means for your organization, and the actions you can take now to build act transparency, demonstrate compliance and build trust.

What’s changing and what your organization needs to know

The ECGT amends two existing consumer protection laws, the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (2005/29/EC) and the Consumer Rights Directive (2011/83/EU), by introducing specific prohibitions against misleading environmental claims and unsubstantiated sustainability labels. Member states were to transpose it into national law by March 27, 2026, with enforcement beginning September 27, 2026.

The new regulation is not optional, it is a legal requirements that applies to all organizations selling into the EU market, including e-commerce stores (product descriptions, marketing pages and adverts with environmental claims), brands and manufacturers (packaging claims, sustainability pages, product labels), retailers and marketplaces, service providers (carbon-neutral shipping, eco-friendly services, green subscriptions).

Whatever your product or service, if your organization wants access to the EU market your environmental and sustainability claims need to comply.

Environmental claims must be:

Specific, and not vague – generic claims such as ‘eco-friendly’ ‘green’ or ‘carbon neutral’ are prohibited unless supported by recognised, verifiable evidence.
Substantiated by evidence such as recognised scientific evidence, transparent methodologies and up-to-date data.
Not based solely on offsetting.
Clearly communicated.

Claims about future sustainability and environmental performance must include:

Clear, objective commitments with measurable targets and a detailed.
An accessible implementation plan with independent monitoring.

Sustainability labels must be verified:

Only labels established by public authorities or based on an independent certification scheme are permitted.
Certification schemes must be transparent, publicly accessible, and independently audited.

Information on product durability and repairability must be provided, including:

Product lifespan
Durability and repairability
Guarantees
Availability of spare parts

What your organization needs to do now

There are practical steps your organization can take now to prepare for the regulation:

Ensure internal teams understand the new requirements – upskill and educate your teams to ensure everyone understands what is changing, what is now required and the actions they need to take to demonstrate compliance.
Audit all environmental and sustainability claims across marketing and product materials – identify where and when you have made environmental and sustainability claims, what evidence exists to support these, and where there are gaps.
Review any use of carbon offsetting in claims – claims such as ‘carbon neutral’ cannot be based on carbon offsetting alone. These claims must either be removed or backed up by verifiable emissions reductions.
Gather robust evidence to support sustainability statements – Utilise expert consultancy, assurance and certification tools to gather verifiable evidence to back up your sustainability and environmental claims.
Remove or rework vague or unsupported language – Ensure product, marketing, PR and comms teams review and revise the language and labels of product and marketing materials to meet the new requirements.

How BSI can help

BSI has a range of expertise, services and standards that can support your organization demonstrate compliance with the ECGT.

Training

As organizations face increasing scrutiny under the ECGT, developing competence in environmental performance management and claim substantiation has never been more important. Our training portfolio supports organizations in building the knowledge and skills needed to generate credible environmental data, improve environmental and sustainability performance, and communicate these claims with confidence.

Covering environmental management systems, greenhouse gas quantification, product carbon footprints and carbon neutrality, our courses help organizations align with internationally recognized standards, strengthen governance and transparency, reduce greenwashing risks, and support robust, evidence-based environmental and sustainability claims in a rapidly evolving regulatory landscape.

Explore all Sustainability Training >

Standards for credible sustainability claims

As organizations navigate evolving requirements for environmental and sustainability claims under the ECGT, the BSI Knowledge platform provides access to internationally recognized standards that support credible, transparent claims, reduce greenwashing risk and help align communications with regulatory expectations.

These include BS EN ISO 14001 (Environmental Management Systems), the ISO 14064 series for greenhouse gas quantification, reporting and verification (particularly BS EN ISO 14064-3), BS EN ISO 14067 (Carbon Footprint of Products), and BS ISO 14068-1 (Transition to Net Zero: Carbon Neutrality), which supports credible carbon neutrality claims.

Organizations can also access the BS EN ISO 14020 family of environmental labels and declarations, including BS EN ISO 14021 for self-declared environmental claims and BS EN ISO 14024 for independently certified ecolabels, helping support transparent and substantiated environmental communications.

In addition, ISO/TS 17033 (Ethical Claims and Supporting Information) provides principles and requirements for developing and substantiating ethical claims where sector-specific standards do not yet exist, or to complement existing standards.

Explore sustainability standards on the BSI Knowledge platform: https://knowledge.bsigroup.com/

Consulting

BSI’s sustainability consulting services enable organizations to confidently comply with the ECGT by supporting the development of accurate, substantiated, and transparent sustainability claims. We help identify and mitigate greenwashing risk, support claims with robust data such as Life Cycle Assessments (LCA), Product Carbon Footprint (PCF), and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) reporting, and strengthen transparency through traceability, supplier engagement, and circularity strategies. By aligning sustainability performance with credible evidence and regulatory expectations, we support organizations in building trust while confidently communicating their environmental impact.

Consulting services include:

Assurance

BSI assurance services can position your organizations to take meaningful action, build stakeholder confidence and demonstrate compliance with the ECGT. Whether it is certifying your environmental management system, verifying your GHG and carbon neutrality claims, or independent sustainability reporting assurance, we can help.

Internal and Supplier Audits

BSI’s internal audit solutions provide a credible way to demonstrate compliance with the ECGT. As an independent third party, we can assess whether your sustainability and environmental claims are substantiated and aligned with regulatory expectations, helping you validate evidence, identify gaps and confidently withstand scrutiny.

Supplier audits with BSI provide visibility into the data, practices and controls across your supply chain, helping ensure your claims are supported at source. This strengthens traceability, addresses gaps and reduces exposure to greenwashing risks.

We can audit against recognised best practice programmes or tailor assessments to your specific claims, risks and business objectives.

Product certification

The BSI Kitemark™ is recognized as a symbol of outstanding quality, safety and trust across a wide range of products and services. Today, that reputation extends into sustainability. Kitemark certification confirms that a product or service’s claim has been independently and repeatedly tested by experts, meaning that your customers and stakeholders can have trust and confidence in products and services that are BSI Kitemark certified.

Other relevant product certification solutions include:

Article footnote:

Impartiality is the governing principle of how BSI provides its services. Impartiality means acting fairly and equitably in its dealings with people and in all business operations. It means decisions are made free from any engagements of influences which could affect the objectivity of decision making.

As an accredited certification body, BSI Assurance cannot offer certification to clients where they have also received consultancy from another part of the BSI Group for the same management system. Likewise, we do not offer consultancy to clients when they also seek certification to the same management system.

The British Standards Institution (BSI, a company incorporated by Royal Charter), performs the National Standards Body (NSB) activity in the UK. BSI, together with its Group Companies, also offers a broad portfolio of business solutions other than NSB activity that help businesses worldwide to improve results through Standards-based best practice (such as certification, self assessment tool, software, product testing, information products and training).

Services listed above are offered by BSI but may not be available in all markets. Please contact us to discuss solutions available to your organization.

(1) BSI global survey, 9,000 participants, Australia, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Netherlands, UK, US, 2024.
(2) BSI & CISL, Global survey, 8,000 participants, Australia, China, Germany, India, Japan, Netherlands, UK and US, 2025.