The Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and the Council on substantiation and communication of explicit environmental claims (Green Claims Directive)(COM(2023)166) of 23 March 2023 includes the following provisions:
- Companies are required to meet minimum standards when substantiating and communicating green claims.
- The scope is limited to business to consumer communication and claims.
- Claims already covered by EU laws would be excluded from the scope.
- Independent verification of scientific evidence of companies’ green claims.
- Labels which use aggregate scoring of the product’s overall environmental impact are not permitted.
- New public labelling schemes will not be allowed and new private schemes will need to be assessed before being approved.
The proposal is presently in the trilogue stage of inter-institutional discussion. A first trilogue took place on 28 January 2025. The second round of trilogue negotiations will take place on 24 April 2025.