Get to Know Your Green Claims: How to Avoid Greenwashing in a Changing Legislative Landscape
by Sian Lee at 10:39 in Emerging, Environmental, Packaging

​We are all consumers of packaging. Increasingly, consumers reaching for their favourite product on the supermarket shelf may be swayed by promising on-pack claims regarding packaging recyclability or recycled content inclusion. Done well, environmental claims indicate to the eco-conscious consumer that a certain product or its packaging may have preferential environmental impact. Left unregulated, the market may become saturated with ambitious environmental claims which lack substance. The solution? Enter the EU Green Claims Directive.

The EU legislative landscape: An overview

In 2020, a study conducted by the European Commission concluded that approximately 53% of green claims surveyed in the EU were vague, misleading or based on unfounded information. Such findings are the core rationale of why top-down EU legislation regulating green claims is essential as we head towards the 'Green' Europe promised under the European Green Deal.

The proposed Green Claims Directive will work in tandem with Directive (EU) 2024/825 on Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition, which is already in force following its publication in the Official Journal in March 2024.

Whilst we await the final passage of the Green Claims Directive, here are six simple steps you can take to avoid greenwashing and stay ahead of incoming EU legislation.

1. Understand your packaging components: Is the whole packaging '100% recycled' or just one component?

Increasingly, consumers may visit the supermarket to find the packaging of their favourite brand product is now made from ‘100% recycled' plastic. Whilst this next point may sound obvious, it has never been more crucial to understand which environmental claim applies to which packaging component. For instance, is your entire packaging made from 100% recycled plastic, or does this claim potentially exclude the cap, label or pump? Failure to make such a distinction on-pack is likely to be deemed misleading to a consumer. For this reason, you may increasingly find a small print which states that this type of claim excludes the cap, label or pump.

2. Obtain verifiable evidence

Approximately 40% of environmental claims surveyed by the European Commission in 2020 had no supporting evidence. The Green Claims Directive seeks to remedy this by setting clear standards on how companies should substantiate environmental claims which are made voluntarily on packaging. Companies would be required to conduct a detailed assessment to substantiate explicit environmental claims made, based on widely recognised scientific evidence.

3. Know your claim terminology: Recyclable vs recycled

The average consumer may overlook this next subtle nuance, however, a bottle which is 100% recyclable is not the same as 100% recycled. 'Recyclable' generally denotes a packaging which can be recycled at end-of-life and is compatible with recycling infrastructure. By comparison, 'recycled' is typically indicative of recycled content inclusion.

4. Avoid the unnecessary use of ambiguous symbols

The Empowering Consumers Directive targets non-credible sustainability labels by prohibiting those which are not based on an approved certification scheme or established by a public authority. The proposed Green Claims Directive will eventually work in tandem by setting clear criteria for how such labels should be accredited and verified. As a result, the use of ambiguous symbols should be avoided ahead of incoming EU legislation.

5. Less is more: Is your claim too good to be true?

Whilst big brands should not be discouraged from showcasing their environmental credentials on-pack, the consequences of making a false, inaccurate or deliberately misleading environmental claim can be damaging. Not only damaging for the planet, but for brand reputation. Increasingly, environmental interest groups and NGOs are mounting lawsuits against big brands who mislead consumers, with varying degrees of success. It has been suggested that this may lead to a new era of 'Greenhushing', whereby companies will avoid making green claims altogether in order to avoid potential repercussions. Alternatively, others suggest that the additional steps required to substantiate claims under the new Green Claims Directive will lead to a thriving, competitive market whereby brands have an opportunity to outshine their competitors by making trusted claims.

6. Watch out for Member State transposition and law which spans multiple fields

The Empowering Consumers Directive is already in force and must be transposed by European Member States by March 2026. Proactive Member States including Cyprus are already drafting their own legislation to integrate the Empowering Consumers Directive into their national consumer rights legislation. Law on environmental claims often traverses the boundary between consumer rights legislation and packaging-specific legislation. As such, the breadth of national legislation which companies must keep track of will only expand as Member States transpose requirements.

An additional point to note is the legal instrument type. For instance, Regulations of the EU (for instance the PPWR) have direct effect and are applicable in all EU Member States from the date of entry into force. By contrast, Directives must be transposed by Member States into national law by an EU-prescribed deadline, as in the case of the Empowering Consumers Directive or proposed Green Claims Directive.

Contact us today to find out more about how you can keep up to date with the latest legislation, both in the EU and beyond!

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