🌍 Green Claims Directive -
7 tips on how you can communicate sustainability measures in your company with legal certainty!
What is a green claim?
A green claim is an environmental statement with which a company presents its products, services or business processes as environmentally friendly or sustainable. This also includes terms such as ‘environmentally friendly’.
What is the Green Claims Directive?
The Green Claims Directive is an EU legislative proposal that obliges companies to substantiate their environmental advertising claims (‘green claims’) with verifiable facts.
The aim is to prevent greenwashing and better protect consumers.
How can companies avoid greenwashing?
- Engage with certified partners for real environmental action
- Ensure that companies you work with deliver measurable results rather than just promises
- Incorporate honest impact projects into ESG strategies
You can find more useful information about greenwashing here ...
Who is affected by the Green Claims Directive?
From small start-ups to large corporations - the Green Claims Directive applies to all companies that advertise their products or processes as sustainable. This means that as soon as you make promises and use terms that sound vague and are not backed up by facts, you are affected.
📌 Vague terms such as ‘climate neutral’ or ‘environmentally friendly’ are therefore no longer sufficient.
✅ The most frequently asked questions about green claims
Maybe you'll find what you're looking for here
From 2024, companies will have to scientifically prove that their environmental claims are correct. Unsubstantiated claims can be warned and penalised with fines.
The Green Claims Directive (GCD) is changing how companies communicate their sustainability values to the outside world - including as employers. Terms such as ‘sustainable working’ or ‘green jobs’ must be verifiable. HR teams must ensure that sustainability promises in recruitment are transparent and fact-based in order to avoid greenwashing accusations.
Companies must ensure that their suppliers do not make false sustainability claims. This means stricter verification in B2B contracts, new requirements in tenders and greater relevance of certifications. Supply chain transparency is becoming mandatory.
You can find out more here >
In future, marketing claims about sustainability must be supported by scientific evidence. Terms such as ‘climate-neutral’, ‘environmentally friendly’ or ‘green’ may only be used under clear conditions. Companies should review their advertising messages and adapt them to the new standards.
You can find out more here >
Sustainability reports, product labelling and social media posts must be backed up with verifiable facts. Companies should check their existing green claims for GCD compliance and formulate clear, transparent statements.
You can find out more here >
7 tips on how you can communicate sustainability measures in your company with legal certainty
1. Ensure transparency
Only use comprehensible and verifiable environmental promises and communicate these to the outside world to give your customers a feeling of trust.
2. Make data-based statements
Use certificates, studies and / or life cycle analyses to confirm your statements and provide more facts.
3. Check certifications
Use reliable environmental labels or offer the possibility to provide sufficient information about the certificates.
4. Do not make generalised statements
Avoid vague terms such as ‘environmentally friendly’ etc. to gain more trust and communicate clear, open transparency. Use fact-based statements instead.
5. Include the supply chain
If necessary, ensure sustainability along the entire value chain. Inform your customers about individual steps within the supply chain.
6. Enter into trustworthy partnerships
Enter into partnerships with credible organisations that also communicate openly with lots of information on sustainable measures.
GOAL 7: Avoid greenwashing
With the help of these points, you can clearly differentiate between marketing and actual measures and position yourself as a transparent company that makes a real impact.
🐠 Plastic Fischer as a sound solution for your company
Why, you ask yourself now? You get sustainability with measurable impact:
- We remove plastic from rivers - directly measurable environmental impact that you can also communicate
- You receive transparent reports on the amount of plastic you collect
- We take on social responsibility - with your support, you also create local jobs and promote sustainable processes
- We integrate your impact into ESG reports - ideal for legally compliant and credible communication of environmental measures
Looking for a trustworthy partnership?
Write to us and create a sound basis for your claims with Plastic Fischer
💻 Get in touch with Karsten now and get advice on a possible collaboration
Alles unverbindlich. Kein Spam.
Karsten Hirsch
CEO, Plastic Fischer GmbH
PART OF
