The Green Transition Directive (the “Directive”) is intended to promote transparent sustainability communication by tackling misleading environmental claims and labelling for consumer goods and establishing increased protection for consumers against unfair practices. The Directive is already in force at an EU level and transposing legislation must be put into effect by Member States by 27 September 2026.
The Directive forms part of a wider EU level ‘green transition’ plan which seeks to address greenwashing concerns and increase overall sustainability. As the deadline for Ireland to transpose this Directive into national law approaches, businesses that make environmental claims about products or services should prepare for the obligations that the Directive will introduce.
Objectives of the Directive
The Directive aims to ensure that consumers receive reliable and verifiable environmental information on products, amending and strengthening the two existing pieces of consumer legislation: the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive and the Consumer Rights Directive.
The main objectives of the Directive are:
- To protect consumers against unfair commercial practices such as greenwashing, premature failure of goods, and unreliable sustainability labels by establishing rules for making environmental claims and banning unaccredited sustainability labels; and
- To provide consumers with clear and trustworthy information about the environmental, social, and circular impacts of products and services. The Directive will introduce minimum requirements required for companies to substantiate their sustainability claims.
Currently, the Consumer Protection Act 2022 (“CPA”) prohibits businesses from engaging in misleading commercial practices in Ireland. The Directive will extend the scope of what is considered to be a ‘misleading commercial practice’. Environmental claims related to future environmental performance without clear, objective and verifiable commitments and targets, and an independent monitoring system, will be considered ‘misleading commercial practices’ if they cause a consumer to make a decision which they wouldn’t have otherwise made.
Additionally, the Directive seeks to extend the list of commercial practices which are always considered unfair (‘prohibited commercial practices’ under the CPA). This list will be extended to encompass the following practices associated with greenwashing:
- Displaying a sustainability label which is not based on a certification scheme or which has not been issued by a public authority;
- Making a generic environmental claim without being able to demonstrate recognised excellent environmental performance relevant to the claim;
- Making an environmental claim about an entire product when it actually concerns a certain aspect of the product;
- Making claims that a product has a reduced, neutral or positive impact on the environment in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, based on offsetting;
- Presenting legally required features as a distinctive feature of the trader’s offer; and/or
- Carrying out certain practices in relation to the planned obsolescence of goods.
Key Features of the Directive
All businesses which make environmental or sustainability claims about products or services should be aware of that specific misleading commercial practices relating to such claims will be prohibited by the Directive. In particular, it will be prohibited for a business to:
- Mislead consumers as to a product’s environmental or social characteristics;
- Make an environmental claim related to future environmental performance without clear, objective, publicly available and verifiable commitments set out in a detailed implementation plan with measurable targets;
- Advertise benefits to consumers that are irrelevant and not directly related to any feature of that product or business (eg., claiming bottled water is gluten-free);
- Display a sustainability label that is not based on a certification scheme or issued by a public body. The Directive proposes criteria for environmental labelling / certification schemes which would certify that a product, process or trader complies with the requirements for an environmental label;
- Make a generic environmental claim (eg, that product is ‘eco-friendly’ or ‘green’) unless the business can demonstrate relevant excellent environmental performance;
- Suggest an environmental benefit applies to the entire product or business when it only relates to a certain aspect;
- Claim, based on the offsetting of greenhouse gas emissions, that a product has a neutral, reduced or positive impact on the environment in terms of greenhouse gas emissions; and
- Provide inaccurate information regarding the durability or repairability of products.
Next Steps
Ireland has until 27 September 2026 to put into effect national transposing legislation. The Irish Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment has indicated that it intends to meet this transposition deadline.