• The EU’s latest crackdown on on organisational ‘greenwashing’ entered into force yesterday. This requires businesses to prove claims relating to climate positive language on products or services.
• Businesses are liable to fines of up to 4 percent of annual turnover if found to be in breach of the EU Directive 2024/825.

The European Union’s (EU’s) Directive 2024/825 entered into force yesterday (27th September) as part of the Union’s latest crackdown on ‘greenwashing.’ Business aviation operators, brokers, handling agents and sales teams will have to comply with rules to govern what organisations can claim or legally say about the environmental impact of their products and services.

The “Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive,” introduced in 2024 will apply across all 27 EU member states and applies where the customer is based, not just where the business is registered. This means, for example, any UK or US business with EU-based operations will be subject to the regulations for their EU operations.

The framing of the regulation is inherently tied to increasing clarity at the point of purchase and ‘therefore, specific rules should be introduced in Union consumer law to tackle unfair commercial practices that mislead consumers and prevent them from making sustainable consumption choices, such as practices associated with the early obsolescence of goods, misleading environmental claims (‘greenwashing’), misleading information about the social characteristics of products or traders’ businesses, or non-transparent and non-credible sustainability labels.’ (EU Directive EU 2024/825, 1).

What is being monitored?

Language commonly used to demonstrate ‘more climate positive’ attributes such as ‘eco-friednly.’ ‘green’ and ‘sustainable’ will be prohibited unless the business using them can verify these benefits originate within its operations or value chain, and are proven through independent audit.

‘Carbon neutral, climate neutral and carbon positive’ will be banned, if they are used to desribe greenhouse gas offsetting from without a business’ value chain.

Potential penalties

Currently there are no exemptions for smaller businesses under this directive. Non-compliant businesses can face: fines of up to 4 percent of annual turnover, confiscation of revenues generated from the non-compliant claim and exclusion from public procurement for up to 12 months.

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