EU Greenwashing Rules Say One Recycled Part Doesn't Make It Recycled

If you have ever picked up a product that said eco-friendly, green, or climate friendly and wondered what exactly that meant, the EU has been wondering the same thing.

From 27th September 2026, new rules to stop greenwashing started applying across the EU. They come from something called the EmpCo Directive, and they are about to make environmental marketing a lot more specific.

First, what exactly is EmpCo?

EmpCo is the commonly used name for the Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive.

If a brand tells you something is better for the planet or more sustainable, you should actually be able to understand what it is claiming.

EmpCo updates existing EU consumer protection rules to tackle misleading environmental claims and questionable sustainability labels.

The EU is basically saying that just climate-friendly packaging is a vague claim. "100% of the energy used to produce this packaging comes from renewable sources" is much more specific.

One green part of the product does not make the whole product green.

When a brand says a product is "made with recycled material," but it turns out only one part of it is recycled, then no, it can't claim the whole thing as an eco friendly product.

Under the new rules, brands cannot make an environmental claim about the entire product or business when the claim really applies to just one part of it.

A sustainability label generally needs to be based on a qualifying certification scheme or established by a public authority. The directive sets requirements around transparency and independent monitoring for certification schemes.

Companies can still talk about investments in carbon projects, provided that information is not misleading. What they cannot do is use those offsets to make the product itself sound emissions-free.

And promises about the future need a plan - "we will be net zero by 2040" cannot just be a nice sentence on an About Us page either.

Environmental claims about future performance need clear and verifiable commitments, a realistic implementation plan, and regular independent third-party verification.

In other words, if you are going to tell consumers where you are heading, you need to be able to show them how you plan to get there.

The rules prohibit falsely claiming that something will last a certain length of time, presenting a product as repairable when it is not, or hiding the fact that a software update could negatively affect how a product works.

And with all these new rules, the EU is asking brands to say exactly what they mean.