The rules governing what you can say about your business’ environmental efforts are ratcheting up. The EU’s greenwashing regulation is officially enacted.
In this article, we look at what the regulation means, who it applies to, and how it differs to existing UK guidance. We also offer our prediction for what good sustainability communications will look like in light of this new law, and the curve ball AI presents.
What is EmpCo, and how does it differ from UK rules?
Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition (EmpCo or ECGT) is a regulation designed to protect consumers from misleading sustainability communications. If you sell products or services to EU consumers, these new rules apply, regardless of where your business is based. While some countries are lagging behind, it’s due to be transposed into national laws across member states so consider EmpCo as the new baseline and expect local nuance.
Many businesses have been busy preparing for these changes. At Everloop we’ve been advising clients what they can and can’t say on their latest packaging, and have even had to update the B Corp logo on our own website to include a EmpCo compliant weblink. Any efforts you’ve made to comply with the UK’s Green Claims Code will put you in a strong position to comply, but for brands selling to the EU market, there are some specifics to be aware of.
- The UK’s code is guidance (though the Competition Markets Authority has new powers to skip court and fine companies directly) to supplement Consumer Protection Laws and clarify expectations, and the rollout of the EU regulation updates existing consumer protection laws, opening up litigation from NGOs and competitors looking to hold companies to account.
- UK guidance is principles based while EmpCo is more prescriptive, yet both call for specific and substantiated claims. EmpCo makes clear which terms require evidence of recognised and relevant “excellent environmental performance”, e.g. “environmentally friendly”, “biodegradable” and “green”. The UK code gives examples of generic claims to avoid, additionally informed by the ASA rulings.
- EmpCo goes further still by banning some practices outright. Making carbon neutral claims for products is off the table, as is any sustainability label that doesn’t meet rigorous standards. While these practices are not explicitly banned in the UK, a quick review of the existing rulings creates a clear precedent to approach with caution.
Key to remember, wherever you sell, is that greenwashing is in the eye of the beholder; what matters is not your intention but how your messaging or imagery is perceived by the average consumer. What you omit counts as much as overcommitting. The majority of greenwashing cases are predictable and easily prevented and caused by well-meaning marketers, and increasingly, ill-informed robots.
Will AI help or hinder this green claims clean up?
Since the EU law was first proposed in 2022, AI has transformed the way content is both created and monitored. The nature of the beast means we’re already seeing more content with less human oversight. AI has a tendency to tell you and your audience what you want to hear, especially when its brief is to sell a product, so without careful calibration and human expertise, you could be exposed.
The source of inspiration for AI-generated content is inevitably existing sustainability communications, which is being heavily regulated for a reason. It can generate a green leaf adorned eco-label in a few seconds, which you could spend years fighting in court. Ultimately, Claude isn’t liable if it greenlights your claims. Precedent has already been set that companies are responsible for AI giving customers misleading information and the latter is precisely why EmpCo exists.
Feeding AI the law directly can offer a helpful blueprint for the busy marketer, but artificial intelligence is only as good as the actual intelligence a company has about its sustainability credentials. AI is not a quick fix for a lack of substantiation, evidence and action behind bold (and now even banned) claims. The reality is even well-intentioned humans have been hallucinating in this space long before LLMs marched onto the scene.
AI also has the potential to make high standards of evidence accessible to more businesses and can provide a way for customers to meaningfully compare one company’s offering to another.
Meanwhile, the chance of being caught short of the rules has risen sharply: in the UK, the Advertising Standards Authority doesn’t just review complaints as they arise. It’s using an AI-powered active monitoring system to scan ads at scale, churning out batches of rulings for entire industries; last year alone its system scoured more than 60 million ads. This spring, the AdLibra tool set a new standard for ad monitoring across Europe.
And of course, at the press of a button, NGOs, competitors and their automated agents can scan every crevice of the internet for any instances where you fall foul of the law.
What will good sustainability communications look like in 2027?
We’re noticing a trend towards a tone of humility, but the planet cannot sustain many more years of “we know we’re not perfect but we’re on a journey”. Patagonia’s long-awaited first impact report published this year is laden with this kind of language and is likely to inspire tone for the 2027 reporting cycle.
Yet there’s an irony to a ‘we’re only human’ rhetoric as many businesses today adapt to position themselves as AI-powered. And that’s before you even open the lid on the environmental and social implications of data centres, or the fact AI companies themselves are accused of greenwashing.
Due to algorithmic greenwashing, it’s also probable that sustainability comms will converge even further, sounding very similar yet saying very little. This could give progressive brands the chance to cut through the slop with creative high-integrity campaigns.
What on earth can a business say?
Greenwashing is highly context specific: complex companies offering diverse products and varied markets with different cultural and environmental expectations. That’s why most general guidance focuses on what not to say.
Some new guides are emerging to offer some direction. In Greenspeaking with Confidence, the ASA gives specific examples to reduce greenwashing risk and support interpretation of its CAP code, such as making well-qualified comparative claims over absolute ones, and how to clarify claims with appropriate caveats and evidence.
Recognising the catalytic impact of communicating progress, the Greenshouting Guide by B Lab and Creatives for Climate aims to curb ‘corporate paralysis’ caused by fear of greenwash. It puts forward seven communication principles (tone, simplicity, abundance, disruption, culture, emotion, and humility) alongside several case studies.
Everloop’s own Goodbye Greenwash workshop provides positive advice and practical exercises on how to craft compliant and compelling sustainability communications. Most importantly, it offers a route to train entire teams so every human feels confident on the ‘why’ behind what you claim.
Where should a business begin?
EmpCo is about to raise the bar for greenwashing laws globally, so wherever you market your product it’s time to get proactive. If you’ve found yourself behind the curve and need to quickly audit your claims to comply, we recommend starting with this question to help determine your exposure (whether you use it as an AI prompt is up to you):
What’s the greenest claim your business makes today, and could you prove it tomorrow?
That’s because our analysis of this year’s environmental rulings so far highlights 'absolute’ or ‘vague’ terminology as the leading cause of upheld cases. Adding EmpCo into the mix, carbon neutral claims and misleading labels are likely to rise up the ranks, so scan your products and service offerings now.
Think ahead too: if you are making any future claims about net zero it’s time to evidence a robust climate transition plan.
Got stock already on the shelves that isn’t up to scratch? The EU has issued ideas for practical and proportionate options to plug the gap, such as covering your claim in stickers or providing supplementary information at point of sale. Ultimately, you’ll need to demonstrate reasonable efforts to comply, as any product in the wild now vulnerable to EmpCo poachers.
Need a human to critique your sustainability communications before your customers or competitors do? Reach out to the Everloop team for support with both crafting green claims and gathering the evidence.
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