The end of climate neutral: these ad claims are banned from September 2026

01What this is about

The EmpCo directive (Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition) tightens EU unfair competition law specifically for green advertising. Germany transposed it in December 2025 through an amendment of the UWG, and the new rules apply from 27 September 2026. From then on, generic green promises without proof sit on the blacklist of always prohibited practices, so they can be attacked without any case-by-case weighing.

The background: a review for the EU Commission rated more than half of the environmental claims examined as vague or unproven. That is exactly what the law targets.

02These claims are banned from September

• Generic terms like environmentally friendly, eco, green, nature friendly, energy efficient or biodegradable, unless recognised excellent environmental performance can be proven.
• Climate neutral, climate positive or CO2 neutral, if the claim rests on offsetting greenhouse gases, meaning purchased certificates instead of real reduction.
• Sustainability labels that are neither based on a certification scheme nor established by public authorities. Self-designed green badges fall exactly into this category.
• Advertising a durability the product does not verifiably have, and claims that sell legally required features as something special.
• Environmental claims about the whole product that in truth only cover one aspect.

03What about the Green Claims Directive?

Alongside EmpCo a second directive was planned, the Green Claims Directive with detailed verification duties before an environmental claim may even be published. That project stalled politically in 2025, and the EU Commission even floated withdrawing it. As of August 2026 it is open whether and in what form it will still arrive. For your duties nothing changes, the EmpCo bans apply regardless.

04How green advertising stays legal

What is banned is not the environmental claim as such, but the generic one without proof. The rule of thumb: specific, measurable, documented. Eco-friendly packaging becomes shipping box made of 95 percent recycled paper. Climate friendly production becomes made with electricity from on-site solar. Claims like these are more precise, more credible and legally on the safe side.

For labels: use established, certified programmes like the EU Ecolabel or Blauer Engel instead of your own creations, and make the criteria easy to find.

05Where the claims hide

The critical wording rarely sits only on the start page. Typical places:

• Product titles, category texts and product descriptions.
• Meta titles and meta descriptions that nobody has touched in years.
• Shop filters and badges like sustainable or eco.
• Newsletter templates, social media profiles and running ads.
• Packaging, inserts and the shipping options in checkout.

Green advertising is a favourite topic of warning letter associations, and from the cutoff date the legal situation is clear. One round of editing before 27 September is far cheaper than the first warning letter.