This month, the EU's Directive on Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition takes effect.
Not next year. Not "coming soon." September 2026.
Most companies have heard of this in passing, filed it under "another ESG directive," and moved on. That instinct is going to be expensive.
Here's what already happened before the directive even formally applied.
Last year, multiple airlines committed to changing their sustainability claims following a complaint led by a network of EU consumer protection authorities. Not a fine yet. A commitment to change language - under the existing consumer protection framework this new directive amends and strengthens.
That's the part worth sitting with. Regulators and claimants were already successfully challenging corporate climate statements before this directive was even fully in force. Now the legal tool they used to do it just got sharper, and enforcement is expected to accelerate specifically because of this.
What actually changes for you.
Any environmental claim your company makes to European consumers - "sustainable," "eco-friendly," "carbon neutral," "green," on packaging, in marketing, on your website - now needs to be substantiated in a way that can withstand a formal challenge. Vague claims without verifiable evidence are the direct target.
This isn't the Green Claims Directive that got pulled last year. It's a separate, narrower instrument that's actually in force now, working through existing consumer protection law that already has enforcement teeth and a track record of successful claims against major companies.
The airlines didn't wait for a lawsuit to change their language. They changed it after a coordinated complaint from regulators who were watching.
The pattern underneath this.
Every quarter this year has brought a different mechanism doing the same underlying thing: shifting scrutiny away from broad, company-wide disclosure requirements and toward specific, testable claims and specific points of commercial contact - a border price, a rating agency's methodology, a marketing claim, a supplier's data.
The companies handling this well aren't the ones with the most comprehensive sustainability report. They're the ones auditing what they actually say, in public, to buyers and consumers, and making sure every claim survives scrutiny.
If your marketing, packaging, or public claims touch European consumers and you're not certain they'd survive a formal challenge - reply directly. I'll help you think through where the exposure actually sits.
— André
Sources: Linklaters, "ESG Legal Outlook 2026," 2026 · Clark Hill PLC, "ESG & Sustainability in 2026," August 2026