Unsubstantiated fashion terms like “sustainable”, “green” and “planet-friendly” are about to become relics of fashion’s unregulated past. Europe is strengthening its consumer protection laws to clamp down on greenwashing with the Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive (known as EmpCo) that, starting September 27, will require all sustainability claims to be proven by third-party evidence like a certification or government backed label. Certain claims, such as carbon offsetting or carbon neutrality, are completely blacklisted.
Experts say the new rules are thorough and clear: any explicit and implicit claims, from sustainability buzzwords to imagery, which imply sustainability must now be verified by a third party. What remains to be seen is whether they will drive brands further into greenhushing territory, whether third-party certifiers are prepared for increased demand, and what it will take to rebuild broken consumer trust in sustainability claims.
Brands have had over two and a half years to prepare for EmpCo, which was officially adopted in March 2024. But the issue has been on the European Commission’s agenda for far longer. In 2020, it released a study finding that 53.3% of environmental claims about products sold in the EU were unfounded, while 40% were unsubstantiated.
A number of high-profile cases since then have spelt the demise of greenwashing. In 2022, both Dutch and Norwegian consumer authorities targeted H&M over the green claims associated with its Conscious Collection, stating that the brand didn’t make clear what criteria it used or provide evidence of why certain products were in the collection. A Changing Markets Foundation investigation found that H&M’s ‘sustainable’ line contained more polyester than its main line, leading the brand to close its Conscious Collection in late 2022. Last year, French authorities fined Shein €40 million, then Italian authorities fined the ultra-fast fashion giant €1 million, for overstating sustainability efforts and misleading consumers.
Until now, investigations have been conducted at the discretion of individual EU member states. While enforcement of the new rules will be controlled at a national level, EmpCo provides a unified framework on what can and cannot be claimed. Any brand selling into the EU, whether European or not, must comply. “I would say that for EU regulation, it is surprisingly robust,” says Andreas Rasche, associate dean at Copenhagen Business School, whose work focuses on sustainability regulations. While many regulations leave language deliberately vague and open to interpretation, EmpCo’s scope is well-defined and unanimous. “There are lots of nuances to greenwashing. This actually clarifies quite a bit, and it also provides more security for companies.”
Understanding EmpCo
Unlike many incoming regulations, which often have phased rollouts for different sized businesses, EmpCo will apply to all brands and products on the market from the end of September. That means the same rules apply if you’re a billion-dollar retailer with well-resourced legal and sustainability teams, or a small independent fashion brand. Importantly, it’s not just applicable to environmental issues.
“One often overlooked point is that EmpCo extends beyond greenwashing to misleading claims about the social characteristics of products and businesses,” says Alexandra Mihailescu Chicon, global head of market development at RepRisk, an ESG data science company focused on business transparency and risk management. “This is particularly relevant in fashion, where RepRisk’s research found that nearly two-thirds of supply chain risk incidents were linked to social issues, including poor working conditions, human rights abuses, and forced labor. Credible sustainability communications therefore need to reflect the wider conduct of brands and their suppliers, not only their environmental performance.”
Among vague or false claims, EmpCo will ban claims about a whole product that only applies to a part of the product (like claiming a shoe is ‘made with recycled materials’ when only a small part is), communications that state future sustainability targets without evidence of a strategy, and legal requirements presented as special features of a product.
