No more vague eco-labels: Brussels moves to police green claims

Tags reading "eco", green patches on labels, and phrases like "kind to the planet" are losing their legal basis. The European Commission is drafting rules on environmental claims, or green claims, that would require companies to justify their statements using scientific and verifiable methods. According to a Commission document, consumers are confused by the tangle of labels, trust in them is very low, and some claims are unreliable. This is why Brussels is acting against greenwashing. The proposal is linked to other EU initiatives: empowering consumers for the green transition and the farm to fork strategy.

A ban on generalities

Directive (EU) 2024/825 on empowering consumers for the green transition is working in parallel. It entered into force in early 2024. The transposition deadline passed on 27 March 2026, and full enforcement begins on 27 September 2026. The directive bans general claims of climate neutrality unless supported by credible data. It also prohibits advertising emission offsets in a way that suggests a product has no environmental impact. The EU calculates the cost of inaction: premature disposal of goods accounts for 261 million tonnes of CO2 annually, and the resulting waste reaches 35 million tonnes.

Overproduction without data

The problem is that the clothing industry has not yet measured its own scale. As 300Gospodarka reports, it now takes only 15 days to produce a garment from design. According to Fashion Revolution, around 85 percent of large brands still do not disclose annual production figures, despite growing evidence of overproduction. Existing claims also require caution. H&M promises to cut emissions by 56 percent by 2030 and reach zero emissions in 2040. Inditex, owner of Zara, names the same target year. A declaration, however, is not the same as an accounting.

What counts for the customer

The EU wants all clothing sold on its market to be durable, repairable, and recyclable by 2030. Labels must carry transparent information, including the share of recycled materials. The average European buys almost 26 kilograms of textiles a year and discards around 11 kilograms. For brands, this means one thing: green communication is becoming a document they must answer for, not a slogan on a poster.