Green claims policies
Governments have prioritised combatting greenwashing – misleading on the sustainability of products, services, and practices – as consumers have become more attuned to their environmental impact.
Deceptive marketing claims or misleading information undermines genuine environmental, social, and governance (ESG) efforts. As a result, standalone policies such the EU Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition (ECD) and Green Claims Directive (GCD), as well as provisions within legislation including the Canadian Competition Act, aim to guarantee the accuracy of what companies disclose to help consumers navigate sustainability-related information when purchasing.
For over a decade, ISEAL has developed good practice guidance to support ambitious sustainability systems and businesses make their sustainability claims credible. ISEAL outlines the fundamental characteristics of good sustainability claims to be accurate, transparent, and trustworthy to inform credible action in this space.
Our policy work tracks regulatory developments and policies and amplifying ISEAL’s thought leadership where relevant. Toward this, ISEAL analyses legislative texts, provides technical submissions and position papers to relevant authorities around the world to support the development of guidance and requirements, and directly engages with policymakers in Brussels to share knowledge and experience working with credible sustainability systems to make green claims.
In doing so, ISEAL continuously reiterates the need to establish robust credibility criteria and acknowledges the role for sustainability systems in certification and assurance. ISEAL offers a methodology – including tools such as tools the ISEAL Credibility Principles and ISEAL Code of Good Practice – for effective and credible practice that details what is required for robust systems to set and manage trustworthy claims.
ISEAL supports the proactive measures taken by EU institutions to combat greenwashing, recognising the critical need for consumers to trust ecological labels and claims to steer their behaviour toward genuinely sustainable options. As such, ISEAL supports the EU Green Claims Directive (GCD) as a firm and significant step in this direction.
Covering voluntary explicit claims and environmental labelling schemes made by traders operating in the EU market, the directive proposal establishes the minimum requirements for the substantiation and communication of voluntary environmental claims in commercial practices. The Directive aims to: (i) protect consumers and companies from greenwashing; (ii) improve the legal certainty as regards environmental claims; and (iii) level the playing field for sustainability schemes toward credibility.
ISEAL has engaged in the GCD’s legislative process since the initial Commission proposal in 2023, reiterating our longstanding support for more stringent and effective regulations to tackle greenwashing, thereby enabling consumers to make informed and sustainable purchasing decisions. ISEAL has published technical submissions and communication notes, some written in consultation with our Community Members, as well as guided policy representatives to the EU Commission (DG ENV) through ISEAL’s position on proposed amendments from the Parliament and Council. ISEAL is committed to meaningful dialogue and offering expert technical guidance, sharing our solution-oriented insights to bolster credible and sustainable claims-making with relevant European authorities ahead of the trilogue meetings stronger transparency and accountability and ensuring effective implementation and meaningful impact.
- Immediately after Commission’s proposal, ISEAL offered in September 2023 a table of amendments on Strengthening the effectiveness of the EU proposal for a Green Claims Directive to and support the directive to meet its objectives. ISEAL noted the need to establish robust credibility criteria, promote multistakeholder participation, and encourage clear pre-approval and verification processes for sustainability schemes
- In September 2024, ahead of an expected start of the interinstitutional trilogue negotiations, ISEAL communicated a technical submission on Enhancing the role of credible sustainability standards within the EU GCD Framework. The submission highlights ISEAL’s position on the adopted institutional texts and proposes recommendations to ensure environmental claims are backed by credible sustainability systems. The submission, elaborated after consultations with ISEAL Community Members, is still the basis for continuous exchanges with the EU policymakers active on the file.
- In January 2025, in advance of the resumed trilogue negotiations, ISEAL communicated our key concerns and points of interest, building on the initial technical submission.
ISEAL similarly welcomed the European Commission’s proposal on the Empowering Consumers Directive (ECD), noting its aim to empower consumers for the green transition through enhanced protection against unfair practices and more reliable information. ISEAL shares the objective that sustainability or green claims in the EU marketplace should be clear, relevant, and substantiated to enable consumers to make more informed and sustainable purchasing decisions.
This Directive imposes an obligation to provide information on reparability ahead of purchase, and protection against unfair practices linked to early obsolescence. It also amends existing directives that protect the interest of consumers at the EU level, such as the Consumer Rights Directive which obliges traders to provide consumers with information on products' durability and reparability, and the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive. This Directive entered into force in the first quarter of 2024, and transposition into national law is set for the first quarter of 2026.
ISEAL has examined the content and scope of the Directive, offering a detailed analysis of the text, as well as released a statement on the proposal in January 2023 that reiterated the need to raise the bar on the credibility of sustainability claims, though conditioned that elements of the current proposals, including for an EU-wide pre-approval system, need to be strengthened significantly to achieve this.
Sustainability systems are increasingly expected to communicate their positive impacts and performance. Good impact communication improves accountability, leads to stronger buy-in from stakeholders, and secures and strengthens partnerships. Yet credibly and accurately communicating and verifying these claims on sustainability performance and impact present distinct challenges for many.
ISEAL offers guidance and resources to sustainability systems on communicating and making credible claims: ISEAL helps sustainability systems to achieve their sustainability goals. ISEAL's Code of Good Practice for Sustainability Systems (the 'ISEAL Code') provides a globally recognised framework, defining practices for effective and credible sustainability systems. It integrates and replaces ISEAL's previous Codes of Good Practice on standard-setting, assurance and impacts. Moreover, the Code defines what is required for robust systems to set and manage credible claims.
The ISEAL Code equips sustainability systems to deliver against changing stakeholder expectations and drive improvements on the sustainability issues that matter.
Further information on ISEAL Code compliance and the ISEAL Credibility Principles.