EmpCo Goes Live: What Firms Need To Know About The EU's Greenwashing Crackdown
From September 27, 2026, the EU's Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive (EmpCo) applies across all 27 Member States, with no transitional relief. It covers every B2C sustainability claim and label – including products already on shelves – and applies immediately to any business marketing to EU consumers, with potential fines of 4% of annual turnover for widespread infringements.
What EmpCo requires from organizations
EmpCo amends the Consumer Rights Directive (CRD) and Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCDP), adding 12 practices to its blacklist. Some primary requirements span:
- Generic claims such as ‘eco-friendly’, false durability and repair claims, and irrelevant benefits are banned unless environmental performance is substantiated via the EU Ecolabel, an officially recognized ISO 14024 Type I label. This also extends to social claims such as working conditions and animal welfare.
- Offset-based claims that a product is neutral or has a reduced GHG impact from outside the value chain are banned. Lifecycle-based reductions can still be claimed.
- Sustainability labels must rest on a third-party certification and monitoring, or be set by a public authority. Self-declared and in-house ‘eco’ marks are prohibited.
- Future performance claims such as ‘net zero by 2040’ need a detailed implementation plan publicly verified by an independent third party.
- Partial claims inaccurately presented as applying to a whole product or business – such as recycled packaging – are banned.
Transposition is uneven
Since EmpCo entered into force in 2024, only seven Member States have met the March 2026 transposition deadline. In May 2026, the European Commission opened infringement procedures against the other 20, and some had still not transposed by late August.
Local interpretation differs as jurisdictional regulators head in different directions regarding which methodologies they accept to substantiate claims. Firms selling across Europe could face running several methodologies for the same product, and consumers cannot be sure what a claim means from one market to the next.
Data and assurance are the foundational backbone
An organization that wants to keep a green claim needs product-level assessment, a robust database and, eventually, a DPP to support it.
Although EmpCo requires independent verification, the directive does not yet clearly define what level of assessment rigour it expects, leaving it open to interpretation. Nonetheless, best practice is to seek limited assurance under ISAE 3000/ISSA 5000 as the baseline, even where rules only say "verification".
What firms should do now
Firms should assign clear owners now as compliance cuts across functions. To prepare, businesses should:
- Inventory every consumer-facing claim, label and product name, and retire those that are generic, offset-based and self-declared.
- Link each retained claim to auditable evidence such as LCAs, PCFs and certificates, and keep claims consistent with regulatory requirements.
- Build product-level data and controls that can withstand limited assurance.
- Track national transposition and methodological differences.
Early winners will treat claims as data products: each traceable to a source, an owner and a review date, and backed by a control environment an assurer can test. Less mature firms should prioritize high-visibility, high-risk claims first, then build the governance to keep new claims compliant.
To learn more, read the following reports:
About The Author
Jessie Wilson
Industry Analyst
