Recognising greenwashing – creating transparency | Umweltbundesamt

“The German Environment Agency is committed to ensuring that consumers receive the information they need to make sustainable purchasing decisions. Unfortunately, however, misleading and unsubstantiated claims are still widespread,” says UBA President Dirk Messner⁠. “With the implementation of the new EU requirements on environmental information for consumers, we expect companies to increasingly use trustworthy seals such as the Blue Angel and to reduce misleading claims.”

The “EU Directive on empowering consumers for the green transition” (EU 2024/825), which was adopted last year to amend competition and consumer law, aims to curb greenwashing in advertising and promote reliable environmental information. This means that in future, text claims will only be permitted if they are described or justified with sufficient specificity. Certain climate⁠ claims will be banned altogether. New requirements for labels, such as publicly accessible criteria and an independent certification system, are also intended to clear up the confusing market of environmental labels.

In addition, the planned European “Green claims directive” is intended to further specify the justification and verifiability of environmental claims. This directive is currently being finalised.

The current UBA research report provides a systematic analysis of the topic of greenwashing. It contains an analysis of the legal instruments for combating greenwashing, summarises the existing recommendations and principles for substantiating good environmental claims and highlights the perceptions and effects on consumers.