Green Claims

Are you considering making a green claim about the sustainability of your product? If you’ve taken steps to reduce your environmental impact and want to share this progress with your customers, it’s essential to do so accurately and responsibly. Clear and honest communication helps you build trust and credibility while avoiding ‘greenwashing’.

Greenwashing occurs when companies make claims suggesting their product or service has a lower environmental impact or is ‘environmentally friendly’ without sufficient evidence. These claims are often vague, misleading, and cannot be substantiated by background data or studies.

In response to greenwashing, the European Commission adopted the Proposal for a Directive on substantiation and communication of explicit environmental claims (Green Claims Directive). This directive establishes rules for making environmental claims, focussing on how to correctly formulate a claim and substantiate them. In the Netherlands, the Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) also provides guidelines to help businesses communicate sustainability claims transparently and accurately.

Green claims need to be:

Effectively communicating the environmental benefits of your product can help you stand out from the competition and build trust with your stakeholders. At Ecomatters, we can support you with:

• Conducting comprehensive background studies – To validate your environmental claims with scientific accuracy
• Assessing and reviewing existing claims – Ensuring they are accurate, clear, specific, and complete
• Guidance on claiming or refraining from claims – Helping you understand when it’s appropriate to make a green claim
• Identifying evidence-based claims – Uncovering potential claims you can make that are substantiated by reliable data
• Workshops – Running sustainability workshops for your product managers and marketing specialists

Are you interested in learning more about how we can support you with making green claims? Get in touch below or book a consultancy call with one of our experts.