Press release

Businesses and NGOs Call on EU to Save Green Claims Directive 

17/07/2025

A broad coalition of businesses, advertising industry bodies, certification schemes and civil society organisations today urged EU Member States to maintain strong support for the Green Claims Directive (GCD). The coalition expressed growing frustration felt among companies that have already taken steps to comply with the proposed Directive - the progress of which has faltered in recent weeks.  

In a letter sent to Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Environment Minister Magnus Heunicke, over 30 signatories have asked the Danish Presidency of the EU Council to unite Member States to secure the Directive’s future and deliver clear, enforceable rules that businesses need to make credible environmental claims. 

“Today, half of environmental claims on the market are either misleading or misuse methods of substantiation,” said Katie-Scarlett Wetherall, Lawyer at ClientEarth. “The Green Claims Directive sets clear rules for how companies can back up what they say. This letter urges action to ensure fair competition for companies that do the right thing and protects consumers from empty promises.” 

The Directive would establish robust new rules requiring companies to properly substantiate environmental claims and for more complex claims to undergo external verification. These requirements build on existing EU consumer protection law. 

Instead of adding red tape, the Directive would reduce legal uncertainty for businesses. Many companies already spend large sums on legal advice to manage greenwashing risks because national enforcement varies widely. Clear EU-wide rules would give businesses a single standard to follow, making compliance easier and more predictable. 

Signatories of the letter include business associations such as Ecopreneur (which represents over 5,000 sustainable SMEs across the EU); sustainability-focused companies like Back Market and advertising industry bodies such as the Conscious Advertising Network, Creatives for Climate, Good-Loop and Unitmode.  

Certification schemes in support include Rainforest Alliance and Aquaculture Stewardship Council. CSOs such as We Mean Business Coalition, Carbon Market Watch, European Environmental Bureau, ISEAL Alliance, Environmental Coalition on Standards and Fairtrade Advocacy Office also added their voices. 

ENDS

Notes to editors:
  • The signatories’ letter was sent on Thursday morning to Mette Frederiksen, Prime Minister of Denmark and Magnus Johannes Heunicke, Minister for Environment and Gender Equality. You can read the letter here: Businesses Call on EU to Save Green Claims Directive | ClientEarth 

    The full list of signatories:  

    Businesses and business associations 

    Back Market  

    Circular Economy Forum Austria 

    CirEko 

    Ecopreneur (on behalf of >5000 SMEs and larger companies) 

    Digital Findet Stadt  

    Grüne Wirtschaft (Austria)  

    New European Reuse Alliance (on behalf of >80 organisations) 

    Sykell  

    TIC Council  

     

    Advertising industry organisations 

    ACT Climate Labs 

    Conscious Advertising Network (CAN) 

    Creatives for Climate 

    Good-Loop 

    The Ethical Agency Alliance  

    Unitmode 

     

    Certification schemes 

    Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) 

    Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS)  

    LONGTIME® 

    Rainforest Alliance 

     

    Civil society organisations  

    Carbon Market Watch 

    ClientEarth 

    Community Resources Network Ireland 

    ECOCITY NGO 

    Environmental Action Germany (Deutsche Umwelthilfe e.V. - DUH) 

    Environmental Coalition on Standards (ECOS) 

    European Environmental Bureau (EEB) 

    Fairtrade Advocacy Office (FTAO) 

    Global 2000 

    HOP - Halte à l'obsolescence programmée  

    ISEAL Alliance 

    Rethink Plastic Alliance 

    We Mean Business Coalition 

    ZERO ONG 

About ClientEarth

ClientEarth is a non-profit organisation that uses the law to create systemic change that protects the Earth for – and with – its inhabitants. We are tackling climate change, protecting nature and stopping pollution, with partners and citizens around the globe. We hold industry and governments to account and defend everyone’s right to a healthy world. ClientEarth teams in Europe, Asia and the USA work to shape, implement and enforce the law, to build a future for our planet in which people and nature can thrive together.