Companies wanting to showcase their green credentials to consumers in the European Union (EU) will have to do more than just claim “sustainable” or “green” in their marketing as new legislation cracks down on these vague terms as “greenwashing”.

The EU’s Directives on Green Claims and Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition are part of a series of regulatory steps underway to ensure consumers are better informed about the environmental impacts of the products and services they use.

During a webinar hosted by ATTA, Baptiste Carriere-Pradal, Co-founder and Director of sustainability consultancy 2B Policy, said the EU has moved to incorporate greenwashing regulations after determining that half of sustainability claims by companies and certification schemes amount to greenwashing.

He said it isn’t important where a business is based but the regulations apply “so long as you are addressing EU consumers”.

Although the directives are not yet implementable, Carriere-Pradal said authorities are “already using the draft of the future law to enforce the current one”. The travel and tourism industries are some of the sectors attracting the most attention for their green claims.

This is evident in recent rulings, within and outside the EU, cracking down on greenwashing claims by airlines and tourism-related companies.

Last year, Virgin Atlantic ran a series of adverts after completing the first transatlantic flight fuelled only by sustainable aviation fuel. However, its claim of using “100% sustainable aviation fuel” was rejected by the UK Advertising Standards Authority as greenwashing because some consumers may have understood it to mean the fuel was 100% sustainable.

Similarly, Booking.com’s Travel Sustainable Programme does not meet sustainability guidelines of authorities in the Netherlands. Eliminating single-use plastics in a hotel is not enough to claim sustainability benefits as this is considered the norm.

Future claims, such as “carbon-neutral by 2030”, are also under the microscope with companies forced to provide detailed evidence of this claim.

Carriere-Padal said companies must avoid “vague overstatements” and terms like “sustainable” or “green” as these have different meanings in different places. It is only “sustainable” when a company has an EU Ecolabel certification, he explained. The requirements for this certification are also being reviewed and revamped.

Claims should be easy to understand and specific. “Only make claims about environmental aspects that can be substantiated,” said Carriere-Padal.

Science-backed evidence is required for claims – based on reliable, comparable and verifiable information, he added.

“It’s the result that counts, not the intention so data must be robust and reliable.”

Carriere-Padal said businesses need to review their current practices. “If environmental performance is key, you need to build a solid perspective on how to defend that in future.”