EU EmpCo Directive (2024/825): Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition

Jackie Hennesy

Principal Consultant

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Jackie Hennesy

Jackie has nine years’ experience advising organisations on green claims, product sustainability, circular economy strategy and regulatory interpretation. As Anthesis’ Global Green Claims Lead, she helps clients manage risk, meet emerging regulations and deliver credible sustainability communication

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Table of Contents

• Introduction
• What is the EmpCo Directive?
• How does it work?
• Who is affected?
• Timeline
• Compliance requirements
• Steps to compliance
• Anthesis support
• Related regulations

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The Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive – the EmpCo Directive – is also referred to as the ECGT, and as the Unfair Consumer Practices Directive (UCPD) update.

An Introduction to the EmpCo Directive

Consumers are increasingly looking to environmental claims to guide purchasing decisions, but the information they receive is often unclear or unsupported. This has fuelled consumer mistrust and created an unfair advantage for brands that overstate or misrepresent their sustainability credentials.

A 2020 European Commission study found that 53.3% of examined environmental claims in the EU were vague, misleading or unfounded, 40% had no supporting evidence, half of green labels offered weak or non-existent verification, and the European market contained hundreds of sustainability labels with varying levels of transparency.

However, environmental claims are no longer just a communications decision; in the EU, they are becoming a defined consumer-law compliance issue.

The Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive, also known as EmpCo or the ECGT Directive, is a binding EU directive that rewrites the rules for environmental and sustainability marketing aimed at EU consumers. It strengthens existing consumer protection law so that green claims, sustainability labels, and future environmental performance commitments are clear, credible, and substantiated.

The rules apply from 27 September 2026, and there is no grandfathering period. Products and consumer-facing claims already on the market must comply from that date, meaning businesses need to assess existing claims now rather than waiting for the next product or campaign cycle.

Anthesis works with organisations across sectors to navigate green claims compliance, sustainability communications strategy, and regulatory change, helping teams translate evolving requirements into a value-driving opportunity through practical governance, substantiation, and communications processes. For companies selling into the EU, EmpCo should now be treated as a packaging, digital, retail, legal, and sustainability-data workstream – not just a marketing review.

Whereas unsubstantiated claims under EmpCo can result in fines of at least 4% of annual, or at least EUR 2 million, communicating environmental benefits through credible and well-evidenced claims can be a powerful commercial advantage in guiding consumers towards more sustainable options and rewarding businesses that invest in sustainability.

What is the EmpCo Directive?

The EmpCo Directive (EU) 2024/825 amends the EU Unfair Commercial Practices Directive and Consumer Rights Directive to help consumers make better-informed sustainable purchasing decisions and to protect them from misleading environmental claims and labels. It was adopted on 28 February 2024 and applies across Member States from 27 September 2026.

Importantly, EmpCo uses enforcement routes already available to national consumer protection authorities and courts.

Objectives of the EmpCo Directive

EmpCo is designed to make environmental, social, and circularity claims more reliable, more comparable, and less likely to mislead consumers.

Its core objectives are to:

• Protect consumers from misleading environmental claims that prevent informed purchasing decisions.
• Eliminate unsupported generic green terminology by restricting broad terms such as “green”, “eco-friendly”, “climate friendly”, or similar terms unless strict conditions are met.
• Restrict unverified sustainability labels by prohibiting labels that are not based on a compliant certification scheme or established by public authorities.
• Ban product-level offset-based GHG neutrality claims where a product is presented as having a neutral, reduced, or positive climate impact based on carbon offsetting rather than the product’s actual lifecycle impact.
• Raise the bar for future environmental commitments by requiring clear, objective, publicly available and verifiable commitments, a realistic implementation plan, measurable time-bound targets, and independent third-party verification.
• Improve point-of-sale information on legal guarantees, durability, software updates, and repairability.
• Create a level playing field so businesses investing in credible sustainability performance are not undercut by competitors using unsupported claims.

How does the EmpCo Directive work?

EmpCo updates existing EU consumer protection rules rather than creating a standalone regime.

In practice, it works in three ways:

1. It adds new rules for environmental claims and labels under the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD), including outright bans on certain misleading practices.
2. It introduces additional consumer information requirements under the Consumer Rights Directive (CRD), covering areas such as durability, repairability, software updates, and legal guarantees.
3. It relies on national enforcement by Member State authorities and courts, with coordinated cross-border action possible where claims appear across EU markets.

This means businesses need to review both the wording of environmental claims and the systems that support them. Some practices will be prohibited automatically, while others will be assessed based on whether they are likely to mislead consumers. Additionally, this means that a claim used across EU e-commerce, packaging, or retailer channels may face scrutiny in more than one Member State.

Understanding the Empco framework

An overview of key elements of the EmpCo Directive:

• Broad definition of environmental claims: The definition includes text, pictorial, graphic, or symbolic representations – including labels, brand names, company names, and product names – that state or imply a positive, improved, or less damaging environmental impact.
• Generic environmental claims: Broad terms such as “green”, “environmentally friendly”, “climate friendly”, or similar claims will be prohibited unless the trader can demonstrate recognised excellent environmental performance relevant to the claim.
• Sustainability labels: Labels may only be displayed if they are based on a certification scheme or established by public authorities. Self-created labels without robust governance will face significant risk.
• Offsetting-based product claims: Claims that a product has a neutral, reduced, or positive environmental impact based on greenhouse gas offsetting are prohibited where they imply the product itself has that impact.
• Future environmental performance claims: Forward-looking claims must be supported by clear, objective, publicly available, and verifiable commitments, with a detailed and realistic implementation plan.
• Durability and repairability: Traders must avoid misleading consumers about product lifespan, repair restrictions, software updates, spare parts, consumables, or compatibility.
• Claims cannot overstate scope: EmpCo prohibits making an environmental claim about an entire product or the trader’s entire business when the claim concerns only a specific aspect of the product or an unrepresentative activity of the business.
• Comparative tools must explain their method: If a trader provides a service comparing products on environmental or social characteristics or circularity aspects, the method, products, suppliers, and measures to keep information up-to-date become material information for consumers.

Who is affected by the EmpCo Directive?

EmpCo applies to business-to-consumer (B2C) commercial practices in the EU. EmpCo has no blanket exemption based on company size, turnover, or sector. It is relevant for any organisation selling or marketing goods, services, digital services, or digital content to EU consumers. While the Directive is sector-agnostic, it is especially relevant in consumer-facing sectors where sustainability claims are common, including consumer goods, food and beverage, retail, travel and transport, energy and utilities, and financial services.

Geographically, the Directive is centred on consumer reach, not headquarters. This means companies headquartered outside the EU may be affected if their claims reach EU consumers. A non-EU business that targets EU consumers through e-commerce, packaging, retail distribution, advertising, or social media should assess whether its claims fall within scope. Corporate websites also require careful review because they often mix investor, employee, B2B, and consumer-facing content.

EmpCo is also relevant for business-to-business (B2B) companies. B2B claims may be used in downstream B2C communications, bringing them within the consumer-facing claims landscape, and EU Member States may choose to extend national rules to cover B2B commercial practices. In addition, B2B environmental claims are already subject to broader national unfair-competition or marketing laws in certain Member States including Germany, Austria, Denmark and Spain. Companies should therefore avoid assuming that B2B claims are automatically out of scope and should consider both EmpCo and applicable national rules in the markets where their claims are made or ultimately used.

EmpCo Directive timeline

• 27 September 2026: New rules apply across Member States. EmpCo rules become enforceable.
• 2026 onward: National authorities are expected to enforce through existing consumer protection enforcement routes, with country-specific implementation details and penalties depending on national transposition.

Core compliance requirements

At a minimum, organisations should be able to show that environmental claims are specific, accurate, substantiated, and presented in a way consumers can understand.

The practical test is not where the underlying data originally came from, but how it is used. If sustainability information from a CSRD report, lifecycle assessment, product regulation file, or other mandatory disclosure is translated into a consumer-facing claim, it must meet EmpCo’s requirements.

Generic claims should be avoided unless they are tied to recognised excellent environmental performance. Sustainability labels should be checked against the Directive’s requirements for certification schemes or public authority schemes. Future-facing claims, including climate transition, net zero or impact-reduction claims, should be supported by a credible implementation plan with measurable targets and verifiable commitments.

Key compliance challenges

• Claim inventory: Many organisations do not have a complete view of sustainability claims across packaging, ecommerce, advertising, social media, point-of-sale materials, and retailer content.
• Evidence quality: Existing substantiation may be technical, fragmented, or not mapped to the specific wording used in consumer-facing claims.
• Supply chain data gaps: Many claims depend on supplier-level data, chain-of-custody information, recycled content evidence, emissions factors, or certification documentation that may be incomplete or outdated.
• Claims governance: To meet EmpCo requirements, teams need clear ownership, documented evidence standards, escalation routes, and ongoing controls so claims remain accurate, specific, and compliant from development through publication and review, and can be monitored and updated or retired as needed over time.
• Greenhushing risk: Over-correction can lead teams to stop communicating genuine progress. The stronger response is not silence; it is specific, proportionate, evidence-based communication.

What are the penalties for non-compliance?

Penalties will vary by Member State. Member States must provide penalties that are effective, proportionate and dissuasive. Under the EU consumer enforcement framework, serious cross-border infringements can lead to significant financial penalties, including maximum fines of at least 4% of annual turnover in the Member State(s) concerned, or at least EUR 2 million where turnover information is unavailable.

Financial penalties are only part of the risk. Authorities and courts can also order cessation or prohibition of unfair commercial practices, require corrective statements, or publicise enforcement decisions. Non-compliance can also trigger retailer delisting, packaging rework, consumer claims, NGO complaints, competitor challenges and reputational harm.

What do organisations need to do now?

Organisations should begin by:

• Derisking historic claims: Identifying every consumer-facing claim that will still be live on or after 27 September 2026, then prioritising high-risk claim types and high-volume channels. Packaging, retailer content, and product-data systems often need months of lead time, and old stock will not be automatically exempt..
• Setting conditions for future claim compliance: Updating or building a repeatable claim governance process by defining approved claim types, evidence thresholds, review responsibilities, expiry dates for evidence, certification rules, sign-off requirements, and escalation triggers. EmpCo should be embedded into marketing workflows, product development, packaging approvals, retailer onboarding, and sustainability-data management.

Leading organisations are moving from reactive claim clean-up to proactive claim design. Instead of drafting sustainability language after a product is ready to launch, they are building claim eligibility into product development, sourcing decisions, certification strategy, data systems and retail-channel planning.

That shift requires investment in evidence infrastructure. LCA, PCF, supplier-data systems, certification governance, packaging databases, and claims approval workflows will become increasingly important.

EmpCo compliance steps and how Anthesis can help

Related regulations & future trends

EmpCo sits within a broader EU and global green-claims and sustainability-regulation landscape.

Key related regimes include:

• Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD): The existing B2C consumer-law framework that EmpCo amends. It remains the core enforcement vehicle for misleading actions, misleading omissions and blacklist practices.
• Consumer Rights Directive (CRD): The consumer-information framework amended by EmpCo to add durability, repairability, software-update and legal-guarantee information requirements.
• Green Claims Directive proposal: Although the proposal has been withdrawn and its future is uncertain, it has influenced regulatory expectations for credible environmental claims and may shape future EU policy.
• Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD): A corporate reporting regime aimed primarily at investors and stakeholders. CSRD disclosures are typically outside EmpCo when mandatory and investor-directed, but can enter EmpCo scope if repurposed in consumer marketing.
• Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR): A product framework that will expand requirements for product durability, reparability, digital product passports and other product information.
• EU Ecolabel Regulation: A recognised public ecolabel framework that can support certain claims where the environmental performance is relevant to the claim.
• CBAM and CSDDD: Adjacent EU sustainability transformation measures that do not regulate green claims directly in the same way, but contribute to the data, due diligence and transition context in which claims are made.

EmpCo is part of a wider regulatory movement toward more disciplined sustainability communication. Businesses should expect more guidance, national enforcement activity and court decisions after application begins. The Commission FAQ already provides early interpretation on implicit claims, generic claims, sustainability labels, third-country public authority labels, old stock and future environmental performance claims. Further national guidance may differ in emphasis and enforcement priorities.

In parallel, product-specific legislation such as the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation and repair-related rules will continue to expand the amount of product data available to consumers. This will increase the expectation that claims are not only true, but also precise, comparable and connected to material product impacts.

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