Summary

Brands and suppliers are working hard to transform their businesses and bring customers along for the journey. To claim that a product, manufacturing process or strategy is sustainable, the brand or retailer must be able to prove and substantiate the relative environmental or social benefits. Miscommunication about relative impact reduction efforts is called greenwashing. When companies exaggerate their impact, fail to back up their claims, or focus on the wrong things, they risk losing consumer trust and being penalised by consumer protection authorities

"How can we inform consumers about our innovative materials, products, and services without being accused of greenwashing?"

Greenwashing thrives in an environment shaped by competing pressures:

Meeting Consumer Expectations: As climate concerns grow, customers want more sustainable options from genuinely caring brands. But sometimes, sustainability claims don’t have enough substance behind them.

Marketing vs. Authenticity: Sustainability sells, but flashy claims can take priority over real action. Buzzwords like “eco-friendly” or “conscious” often disguise shallow efforts.

Regulatory Gaps: A lack of clear standards has allowed vague or misleading sustainability claims to spread.

Recently, some big brands have faced fines and reputational damage due to greenwashing. This has made others hesitant to communicate their sustainability efforts—or even invest in them. Some top tips to ensure your customer communications are compliant:

• Change It- Make meaningful improvements that actually reduce your business’s environmental or social impact.
• Prove It- Get the right certifications and data to support your claims. Ensure full chain-of-custody tracking.
• Explain It- Be clear and specific about what you’ve changed. Avoid vague claims that could mislead customers

Legislations concerning Green Claims

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Stop

The Empowering Consumers Directive cracks down on unverified claims and unfair practices.

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Start

The Substantiating Green Claims Directive sets the rules for making compliant sustainability claims.

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Continue

The EU’s Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) rules for Apparel & Textiles are the preferred method for measuring product impact.

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What Should you be doing?

Brands

You don’t have to stop talking about your sustainability efforts just because it’s challenging or risky. Instead, bring your leadership team on board and show them the way forward with compliant and inspiring communication.

1. Understand compliance – Asses your obligations to substantiate your sustainability communication at both a product and business level
2. Assess the gaps – Compare your current communication strategy with compliance requirements.
3. Get your data in order – This includes materials, certifications, chain-of-custody tracking, and environmental impact data.
4. Revise your communication guidelines – Reduce the risk of misleading claims. 2B Policy is a trusted resource to build from.
5. Set up monitoring & compliance processes – Make sure your data and communication can hold up to scrutiny.

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Manufacturers

Your innovations in materials and processes are helping the industry become more sustainable. However, to help brands communicate your products' benefits to consumers, you need to prove that your efforts truly reduce environmental or social impact.

• Material Producers – Make sure your products have the right licenses and certifications that meet both existing third-party verification requirements and upcoming EU environmental substantiation rules.
• Manufacturers – If you’re improving sustainability through new materials, better processes, or worker welfare, ensure your efforts are recognised by schemes aligned with EU regulations. Get your facilities and data systems ready to measure your environmental impact.
• Suppliers – Provide enough data to support compliant green claims. Strengthen your data processes to guarantee the accuracy of your product impact information**.**

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Key Dates for Green Claims Legislation

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