What is the EU Green Claims Directive?

It is a proposed EU rule requiring that explicit voluntary environmental claims be substantiated with scientific evidence, life-cycle assessed, independently verified before use, and clearly communicated. It works alongside the Empowering Consumers Directive, which bans vague claims and self-made labels.

Why are vague claims like 'eco-friendly' risky?

Generic, unqualified terms such as eco-friendly, green, or natural are flagged as misleading because they imply broad environmental benefit without specifics. The directives push companies toward specific, measurable claims about a defined impact instead.

Can I claim carbon neutral using offsets?

Claims of neutrality based mainly on purchasing offsets are treated as high risk. The expected rules require prioritising actual emission reductions and being transparent about any residual offset use rather than buying a neutral label outright.

What does third-party verification add?

Independent ex-ante verification means a competent external party checks your evidence before the claim is published. It is one of the strongest signals against greenwashing and is expected to be mandatory for explicit environmental claims under the directive.

Is the score legal advice?

No. It is a structured self-assessment reflecting the directives' substantiation principles. Use it to prioritise fixes, and have material claims reviewed by qualified legal and sustainability advisers before publication.

Greenwashing Risk Scorer

Regulators and consumers are clamping down on unsubstantiated green marketing. This scorer runs your environmental claim through the substantiation principles of the proposed EU Green Claims and Empowering Consumers directives and returns a greenwashing risk score so you can fix problems before they reach the public.

How it works

Each answer maps to a substantiation rule and carries a weight reflecting how serious that failure is. Risky answers accumulate into a score:

risk weight = sum of weights of risky answers
risk score  = risk weight / max weight × 100

The heaviest weights sit on the non-negotiables: missing scientific evidence, ignoring the full life cycle, lacking independent verification, and claiming neutrality through offsetting. Lighter weights cover clarity issues such as vague wording, undisclosed trade-offs, and uncertified labels.

Notes and example

A claim that a product is “eco-friendly” with no life-cycle assessment, no independent verification, and a neutrality boast resting on offsets will score high and surface several heavy-weight gaps. Closing them in order — gather recognised evidence, run a full life-cycle assessment, obtain third-party verification, replace the generic wording with a specific measurable statement, and drop or fully disclose the offsetting — drives the score down quickly. Treat the result as a prioritisation aid, not a legal clearance, and route any material claim through proper review before it is published.