This year, three separate anti-greenwashing laws are coming into effect, heavily impacting the world of sustainability marketing: the EU’s Green Claims Directive on January 17, 2024, California’s Voluntary Carbon Markets Disclosures Act on January 1, 2024, and the UK’s FCA sustainability disclosure and labeling regime at the end of May 2024.

These rules promote transparency regarding business sustainability and serve to promote genuinely sustainable companies. However, they have left many questions surrounding sustainability content. How much will you need to change your existing content and future marketing strategies to ensure compliance? Here’s a complete guide.

Comparing legislation

While all three laws share similar intent—to prevent misleading customers into believing that products and businesses are more sustainable than they actually are—there are a few key differences worth noting.

The Green Claims Directive and Voluntary Carbon Markets Disclosures Act are mandatory, while the UK’s is voluntary. 

California’s legislation (Voluntary Carbon Markets Disclosures Act) is more focused on carbon claims than other aspects of impact. Under this law, companies must provide evidence for net zero, carbon reduction, and climate-positive claims to prevent deceiving consumers. 

The EU’s Green Claims Directive requires that businesses be transparent about all areas of their ESG impact and disclose data-backed evidence for any sustainability claim.

Since the EU’s law is the most comprehensive and all three laws carry the same intent, following the EU’s new rules will also ensure compliance with the UK’s and California’s regulations. Therefore, this article will focus on the Green Claims Directive and the changes you need to make so that your content is unproblematic.

What are the new rules?

The rules of the Green Claims Directive are simple: companies that promote their own sustainability must do so transparently and with sufficient evidence to support their claims.

In practice, this is easier said than done. The directive is specific about which claims can and cannot be made and what evidence is required to support them. Let’s take a closer look.

1. Environmental claims must be supported using data

Companies must provide hard data surrounding their impact and sustainability targets. For example, a company can no longer estimate its carbon reductions. It must provide a specific amount that its carbon output has been reduced and show evidence proving this number. 

2. Companies must provide full transparency

Products that carry claims like “100% sustainable materials” must offer sufficient evidence to prove this claim. This requires documentation like a lifecycle analysis (LCA) that demonstrates sustainability from cradle to grave. Therefore, companies must either work with their suppliers to gather the evidence to support these claims or avoid sustainability claims entirely.

3. Sustainability claims require auditing and assurance

It’s not enough to provide just any documentation to prove sustainability. All evidence requires third-party auditing and assurance to verify that the data is accurate. Companies that do not carry legitimate green business certifications will likely need to hire an external environmental consulting agency to audit and substantiate their claims.

4. Demonstrate real reduction targets

Companies that claim sustainability must show concrete and measurable impact reduction targets. These need to be regularly tracked and reported and cannot be offset. For example, if a company makes claims like “carbon-neutral” or “climate-positive,” these assertions can only be reached through actual reduction rather than investing in offsets.

The purpose behind it all

To adequately address these new rules in your content, you must first understand their intention. This will help guide your approach to sustainability marketing and help determine the adjustments that need to be made to existing content.

Anti-greenwashing legislation exists to sufficiently inform and educate consumers while cultivating demand for products that are actually sustainable, to prevent misleading claims that promote products that are more sustainable than they actually are, and to promote transparency. In short, it’s designed to penalize companies that prey on consumers’ desires to support sustainable brands and boost brands that are actually following science-backed sustainability practices.

Although the prospect of updating old content and adjusting existing sustainability strategies may be daunting, the new laws offer an opportunity to companies that are genuinely concerned about their impact. They provide a roadmap toward more sustainable practices, ensure that companies currently making sustainability claims are actually sustainable, and build trust with consumers. These laws should minimize doubt surrounding claims of ethical sourcing and recycled materials. Truly sustainable companies will be placed at the forefront of the competition, while companies with unsubstantiated claims must race to catch up.

Who does this affect?

While all companies should note this development, a handful of businesses and industries are more immediately impacted.

• Any company that operates in the EU, UK, or California
• Any company with more than ten employees with more than 2 million euro turnover that operates in the EU (under the Green Claims Directive)
• Companies that make sustainability claims in their marketing strategy
• Companies that have a sustainability strategy that they wish to share with consumers

It’s important to remember that regulations such as these tend to have a trickle-down effect. Even if your company isn’t currently affected by these laws, similar ESG regulations may directly impact your company in the future. Therefore, prudent decision-makers should take this opportunity to ensure that they adjust their content and marketing strategies to comply with these regulations so that they can stay ahead of the game.

How to ensure your content is compliant

The first step to remaining compliant is to invest in science-backed sustainable practices with third-party documentation substantiating your claims. However, even if your company is truly sustainable, you must still ensure that the language you use in your marketing complies with these laws. The best way to ensure that your content remains unproblematic is to keep the purpose of the new laws in mind and err on the side of caution.

• Wherever you use terms like “sustainable,” “eco-friendly,” and “green,” you must back it up. When in doubt, avoid these phrases for something more carefully worded.
  • NO: “All of our ingredients are sustainably sourced.”
  • YES: “All of our ingredients come from certified organic farms within 20 miles of our manufacturing facilities.”
• Address the areas where your practices and policies fall short. Remember, these laws are about promoting transparency, so you should lean into this intention.
  • NO: “100% plastic-free”
  • YES: “None of our products use any plastic materials. However, we still use plastic to wrap and protect our items during transport as we have yet to find an alternative that’s as lightweight, cost-effective, and protective. We are working with our suppliers to innovate a more climate-aware solution.”
• Avoid words like “carbon-neutral” or “ethically sourced” unless 100% true. These types of claims must be backed up by proper certification to be considered accurate.
  • NO: “100% ethically sourced ingredients”
  • YES: “100% Certified Fairtrade ingredients”
• Use specific data rather than estimates.
  • NO: “We’ve reduced our carbon footprint by almost half.”
  • YES: “Since 2010, we’ve reduced our carbon footprint by 42.5%.”
• Provide your complete sustainability strategy, documentation, and third-party certifications on your website. 
• When in doubt, keep it out. If you’re unsure whether your sustainability claims can be sufficiently substantiated, leave them out of your marketing strategy until you have the evidence to back it up.

Let me take some of this off your plate

Even though anti-greenwashing laws are ultimately a good thing, they’ve left many companies scrambling to update their content and marketing strategies. I’m here to take some of the load. Reach out to learn more about my Green Claims Directive auditing and editing services so that you can feel secure about your sustainable marketing strategy.