ARTICLE
Making good use of environmental claims: Training to avoid greenwashing!
Published on 01/09/2025 - 12 minutes reading time
While consumers are increasingly attentive to companies' commitments and transparency regarding their environmental impact, a 2020 European Union study* reveals that more than half of environmental claims are vague, misleading or unfounded. At the same time, the proliferation of environmental labels and claims is heightening consumer mistrust. What does the strengthening of European legislation imply? How can we respond to it? Here's our analysis.
Towards stricter regulation...
In this context, in March 2023 the European Commission proposed a new directive on green claims, aimed at ensuring more reliable and harmonised environmental communication. This law is part of the European Green Deal’s action to promote the circular economy. It complements the March 2022 directive, which aims to ‘empower consumers to act in favour of the ecological transition’….
…which applies to all businesses...
This directive applies to all companies using environmental claims that are not covered by any other specific European regulation. It particularly concerns explicit voluntary claims, i.e. labels and statements such as ‘packaging made from 70% recycled plastic’.
…for a more transparent and fair market
The aim is to restore consumer confidence by combating greenwashing and ensuring reliable and comparable environmental information on the European market. The use of rigorous scientific methods to support any claim will also help to restore fair competition between businesses and prevent the use of misleading practices. Businesses that are genuinely committed to sustainability will thus be rewarded.
Key measures in the directive relating to environmental claims...
- Common criteria to enable comparability
- Verification by an independent, accredited body prior to publication
...and environmental labels:
- Strengthening their governance to ensure their relevance and credibility
- A ban on creating:
- New public labels (except at EU level).
- Private labels without prior authorisation and/or with the same or lower environmental requirements.
To meet these requirements, training on environmental communication is essential
Why? Training on environmental communication allows you to master new legal frameworks, design credible messages and strengthen stakeholder confidence, while preserving the company’s reputation. We have developed essential training courses to help you meet your challenges:
- Make good use of environmental claims and labels with our training course on environmental communication.
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