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For several years, the Green Claims Directive was expected to become one of the European Union's main tools for addressing greenwashing.
Proposed by the European Commission in March 2023, the directive aimed to introduce specific requirements for environmental claims and environmental labels used by companies across the European market.
However, in June 2025, the European Commission announced its intention to withdraw the proposal, creating uncertainty around the future of the Green Claims Directive and raising new questions for organisations monitoring sustainability-related regulation.
So what happened, and which rules apply today?
The Green Claims Directive was proposed by the European Commission on 22 March 2023.
The objective was to address misleading environmental claims by introducing common requirements for how voluntary environmental claims are substantiated, communicated, and verified across the European Union.
The proposal would have applied to explicit environmental claims made voluntarily by organisations, including claims relating to environmental performance, environmental impacts, or environmental benefits.
The proposal was developed in response to concerns about greenwashing and inconsistent environmental communications.
According to research cited by the European Commission, more than half of environmental claims reviewed across the EU were considered vague, misleading, or unfounded, while many lacked sufficient supporting evidence.
The Green Claims Directive was intended to establish a more consistent framework for environmental marketing and provide consumers with greater confidence when evaluating sustainability-related information.
On 20 June 2025, the European Commission announced its intention to withdraw the Green Claims Directive proposal. Planned trilogue negotiations were subsequently cancelled, and uncertainty remains regarding the future of the legislative proposal.
The announcement followed concerns that some elements of the proposal could create significant administrative burdens, particularly for smaller organisations.
As a result, the Green Claims Directive is no longer progressing along the timeline originally anticipated when the proposal was first published.
No.
While the future of the Green Claims Directive remains uncertain, environmental claims are still subject to a growing body of European consumer protection legislation.
Most importantly, Directive (EU) 2024/825, commonly referred to as the Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive (ECGT), has already been adopted and is moving forward according to a defined implementation timeline.
This means organisations should not interpret developments around the Green Claims Directive as a signal that environmental claims will no longer receive regulatory scrutiny.
The ECGT Directive introduces several changes that directly affect how environmental claims are communicated to consumers.
From 27 September 2026, businesses operating in the European market will face new restrictions on certain environmental marketing practices. These include generic environmental claims that cannot be demonstrated, certain sustainability labels that are not based on recognised certification schemes, and specific forms of environmental communication considered misleading under the updated consumer protection framework.
Examples frequently discussed in relation to the new rules include claims such as:
The exact assessment will depend on the context and evidence supporting the claim, but organisations should already be reviewing how environmental messages are presented to consumers.
The Green Claims Directive and the ECGT Directive are often discussed together, but their legislative status is now very different.
The Green Claims Directive proposal remains uncertain following the Commission's withdrawal announcement in June 2025.
The ECGT Directive has already entered into force. Member States were required to transpose it by 27 March 2026, and its provisions will apply from 27 September 2026. Read more in our dedicated guide.
For organisations operating in Europe, the practical focus today is less about whether the Green Claims Directive will eventually be adopted and more about understanding which environmental communication requirements are already moving forward through existing legislation.
Recent developments outside the EU also show that environmental claims continue to receive close regulatory attention.
In June 2026, the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) banned advertisements from Adidas, Uniqlo, and Calvin Klein after finding that claims referring to products as “recycled” or highlighting recycled materials were not presented with sufficient clarity or substantiation. According to the ASA, consumers could reasonably interpret these claims as meaning that products were entirely or predominantly made from recycled materials, while the basis of the claims had not been made sufficiently clear.
Although these decisions are based on UK advertising rules rather than EU legislation, they reinforce a broader trend: regulators increasingly expect environmental claims to be clear, specific, and supported by robust evidence.
Although the future of the Green Claims Directive remains uncertain, the broader direction of travel is becoming clearer.
European regulators continue to place greater emphasis on the accuracy, transparency, and substantiation of environmental information provided to consumers. Whether through consumer protection rules, environmental claim requirements, or product-level information initiatives, organisations are increasingly expected to support sustainability-related communications with clear and verifiable evidence.
Get in touch to discuss how Digital Product Passports can help connect sustainability claims with the product information and documentation that supports them.
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