Regulation guidance: Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition

What is the Empowering Consumers Directive, when does it start and how will it affect the print industry? Environmental journalist Rachel England outlines everything you need to know for your business.

In March 2022, the EU Commission presented two proposed directives designed to create uniform standards related to environmental claims in advertising. The first, Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive (also known as ‘EmpCo’) began in March 2024. The second, the Green Claims Directive, is still being negotiated. Both will have implications for the print industry.

What is the EmpCo Directive?

The full title of the EmpCo Directive (EU/2024/825) is the ‘Directive for empowering consumers for the green transition through better protection against unfair practices and through better information’. It is not a new regulatory regime, but rather it amends the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive and the Consumer Rights Directive to ensure that consumers have better and more harmonised information about the products they buy. These changes include new rules around the following:

Generic environmental claims
Vague claims such as ‘environmentally-friendly’, ‘green’, ‘eco-friendly’, ‘biodegradable’ and ‘energy efficient’ will be prohibited unless they can be verified to a high standard, primarily through a recognised ecolabelling scheme.

Sustainability labels
The use of sustainability labels will become stricter and will only be permitted if the label has been established by public authorities, or is part of a certification scheme. Certification schemes must be transparent and available to all and developed in consultation with experts and relevant stakeholders.

Future environmental performance
Claims relating to the future environmental performance of a product, service or company must be verifiable and set out in a detailed implementation plan that includes time-bound targets.

Claims based on emission offsets
Claims that a product has a neutral, reduced or positive impact on the environment in terms of greenhouse gas emissions will be banned. Examples of such claims include ‘climate neutral’, ‘reduced climate impact’ and ‘reduced CO₂’.

Advertising mandatory requirements as a special feature
Any environmental requirement imposed by law (for example, the proportion of recycled content in a product) cannot be advertised as a distinctive feature. The amendments also include new rules around the provision of information on durability and repairability, and unfair commercial practices linked to early obsolescence will be prohibited.

When does the EmpCo Directive come into effect?

EU countries are required to transpose the Directive into their national law by 27 March 2026. The rules will apply from 27 September 2026.

How will printers be affected by EmpCo?

As sustainability has become an increasing business concern for the print industry, many companies have positioned themselves or their offerings as a greener alternative. Particularly around consumables such as paper and ink, claims of carbon neutrality and eco-friendliness are common. As such, printers will need to examine their labelling and marketing processes to ensure they breach EmpCo’s amendments.

If printers are using their own sustainability labels, they should consider switching to an independent certification scheme or stop using the labels altogether. This, however, presents its own issues. “There are the bureaucratic pressures, and of course the costs involved,” says Anna Lutz, Commercial Law Adviser at BVDM, Germany’s federal association of printing and media. “But this also creates the risk of ‘green hushing’, where companies don’t take any action on sustainability for fear of getting the messaging wrong.”

How does the Green Claims Directive fit in?

If and when it comes into effect, the Green Claims Directive (EU/2023/0085) will complement the EU’s ban on greenwashing and introduce a dedicated verification system for companies that want to make environmental-related claims. Before using such claims for their products, companies would need to submit evidence for them and get preapproval from verifiers assigned by EU countries.

As Lutz explains, this forthcoming directive (which unlike EmpCo will create a new regulatory regime) stands to complicate matters when it comes to EmpCo compliance. “Under EmpCo, green claims need to be verified, and right now it’s not clear how this process will work,” she says. “But we also don’t know what the Green Claims Directive will bring on top of this. There is the risk that companies will seek external certification for their claims under EmpCo that will not be enough for the Green Claims Directive.”

How can printers get prepared for EmpCo?

Given the relative uncertainty posed by EmpCo and the Green Claims Directive, printers may be inclined to remove their sustainability messaging altogether, but Lutz advises against this. “Sustainability is not a nice-to-have, it’s a need-to-have. Consumers, investors and supply chains all want to work with sustainable businesses, and in the future, there will be more legislation around sustainability requirements, so it needs to stay on top of your agenda.”

Instead, start by taking a good look at any existing sustainability messaging and considering how claims could be verified. Data around material provenance will play a key role here. Then consider joining a reputable certification scheme to properly verify claims. The gold standard, Lutz says, is the EU Ecolabel, which is mentioned explicitly in the EmpCo Directive. She also cites the Blue Angel Standard and in Germany, BVDM’s Climate Initiative.

Whether or not these standards, or any others, will fulfil the criteria of the Green Claims Directive is yet to be seen, but they will help ensure compliance with EmpCo and enable printers to continue benefiting from their sustainability endeavours in confidence.