The EU's Anti-Greenwashing Directive: What Luxembourg Businesses Need to Do Before September 2026
Whether you run a retail business, manage a brand, or oversee communications for a Luxembourg company, the new EU Directive 2024/825 will affect how you talk about sustainability. The deadline is closer than most people realise — and the stakes are real. Here is what the directive requires, which businesses are in scope, and what you should start doing right now.
What Is Directive (EU) 2024/825 and Why Does It Exist?
Also known as the Empowering Consumers Directive (EmpCo), this text was adopted on 28 February 2024 and entered into force on 27 March 2024. Luxembourg, like all EU Member States, must transpose it into national law by 27 March 2026. From 27 September 2026, the rules become binding for all companies — with no grace period.
The directive was born out of a straightforward observation: greenwashing had become pervasive. A 2020 European Commission study found that over half of the environmental claims examined were vague, misleading, or unfounded, and a parallel sweep by EU consumer protection authorities found that 40% were entirely unsubstantiated. The directive's goal is to put an end to empty green promises and ensure that consumers can trust the sustainability information they receive.
In Luxembourg, the two EU directives that EmpCo amends are already transposed through the Code de la consommation. The forthcoming national legislation will update that code accordingly, and the Luxembourg Directorate for Consumer Protection is currently developing dedicated guidelines for businesses — with a first information sheet expected in summer 2026 and full guidance in autumn 2026.
What Changes in Practice?
EmpCo amends two existing pieces of EU consumer law. Understanding what each one covers helps clarify where the new obligations will land in your organisation.
Changes to the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (2005/29/EC)
This directive has always prohibited misleading commercial practices. What EmpCo does is make it far more specific when it comes to green and sustainability claims — adding environmental, social, and circularity characteristics to the list of features whose misrepresentation is automatically considered unfair.
The most significant change is an expansion of the so-called "blacklist": a list of practices so problematic that they are forbidden outright, without any need for a case-by-case analysis. From September 2026, the following will be automatically prohibited:
Using a generic environmental claim — words like "eco-friendly," "green," "natural," or "sustainable" — without being able to demonstrate recognised, excellent environmental performance. Vague language is no longer a grey area; it is a greenwashing risk and a legal liability.
Displaying a sustainability label that is not based on an approved certification scheme or established by a public authority. Self-created badges, however well-intentioned, will not pass muster.
Claiming that a product has a neutral, reduced, or positive impact on greenhouse gas emissions based solely on carbon offsetting. This directly bans "carbon neutral" and "climate positive" claims that rest on offset schemes rather than actual emissions reductions - the single most disruptive change for many companies.
Claiming that a product meets certain environmental standards when those standards are simply legal requirements that apply to all products in that category — not a genuine differentiator.
Future-tense pledges are also covered. Statements like "We aim to be carbon neutral by 2030" will only be permissible if backed by a concrete, publicly available implementation plan with measurable and time-bound targets, verified by an independent third party. Aspirational language without substance becomes a legal liability.
Changes to the Consumer Rights Directive (2011/83/EU)
The Consumer Rights Directive governs what information businesses must provide before a purchase. EmpCo extends these pre-contractual obligations to include durability and repairability data: whether a product comes with a commercial durability guarantee, whether spare parts and repair services are available, and — where officially established — a repairability score. Circularity moves from a marketing talking point to a legal obligation, affecting product listings, sales conversations, and your supply chain.
Which Luxembourg Businesses Are Affected?
The directive applies to all B2C commercial communications — online, in print, on packaging, in stores, or in audio-visual formats. If your company communicates with consumers and makes any kind of environmental, social, or sustainability-related claim, you are in scope.
Directly affected businesses include retailers and e-commerce operators with any green messaging, manufacturers and brand owners who control labelling, and service providers in energy, mobility, finance, or hospitality who make environmental claims — including any company using carbon offset schemes to support "carbon neutral" claims in consumer-facing channels.
Indirectly affected — and this is where it gets interesting. EmpCo is formally a B2C directive, but its reach extends well into B2B relationships. If a retailer makes a green claim to consumers based on data provided by a supplier, the retailer is legally exposed if the claim cannot be substantiated. They will respond by pushing accountability upstream: expect tighter supplier questionnaires, requests for certified environmental data, and new contractual clauses around the accuracy of sustainability information. A Luxembourg packaging manufacturer, logistics provider, ingredients supplier, or B2B subcontractor may have no direct relationship with end consumers — and yet find themselves facing new compliance demands from their B2C clients. The directive does not formally bind these companies, but their clients' obligations will.
Given Luxembourg's role as a hub for financial services, logistics, and European headquarters, the indirect exposure across supply chains is broader than it might first appear.
What Are the Risks of Non-Compliance?
This is not a soft obligation. EmpCo relies on the enforcement mechanisms already in place under the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD) — meaning national consumer protection authorities already have the tools to act.
Penalties operate on two levels. For widespread infringements affecting consumers across multiple Member States, EU coordination rules (Regulation (EU) 2017/2394) set a ceiling of 4% of annual turnover or €2 million where turnover data is unavailable. For national infringements, Luxembourg will define its own penalty framework— with the EU-mandated requirement that sanctions be effective, proportionate, and dissuasive. The fine amounts will vary, but leniency is not an option Member States are free to choose.
Beyond fines, greenwashing allegations carry reputational consequences that are increasingly hard to recover from. A 2023 KPMG survey of over 2,000 UK adults found that more than half of consumers are prepared to boycott brands over misleading green claims, with nearly one in five having already changed their purchasing decisions — and there is little reason to think Continental European consumers are more forgiving.
Enforcement is already active. The UCPD has been in force for years, and authorities are using it. In June 2024, Germany's Federal Court of Justice ruled that “climate neutral” unless the specific meaning — reduction versus offsetting — is explained within the ad itself. In August 2025, Italy's competition authority fined Shein €1 million for greenwashing — vague environmental claims contradicted by the company's own emissions data. Luxembourg businesses operating across borders are not insulated from this trend.
A Practical Starting Point: What to Review Now
Audit your current green messaging. Go through every channel — website, product pages, packaging, brochures, social media, sales scripts — and flag anything that uses vague environmental language. Ask honestly: Can we prove this? Is it specific? Is it based on a recognised standard? If the answer is uncertain, it needs to be revised or removed before September 2026. Many companies are unknowingly exposed to greenwashing risk simply through the language they have always used.
Check your labels and certifications. If you display any kind of sustainability badge or eco-label, verify its legal basis. Is it grounded in an independent certification schemethat is transparent, auditable, and publicly recognised? If not, the label may become a liability rather than an asset.
Build your product lifecycle data. Repairability and durability disclosures require data — expected product lifespan, spare part availability, access to repair services. This information often sits with manufacturers or upstream suppliers. Start the conversations now.
Review your climate commitments. If your company has made public net-zero or carbon reduction pledges, check whether they meet the new standard: a concrete plan, measurable milestones, and third-party verification. And if those commitments are not yet grounded in a measured carbon footprint — covering your actual emissions across your operations and value chain — that is the logical starting point. You cannot credibly commit to reducing what you have not yet measured. A verified carbon footprint, followed by a structured emissions reduction plan with clear targets and timelines, is what transforms a climate pledge from a marketing statement into a defensible commitment.
Stay close to Luxembourg's national guidance. The Directorate for Consumer Protection is developing specific guidelines for the Luxembourg market, due in autumn 2026. These will translate EmpCo's requirements into the national legal context of the Code de la consommation — essential reading for any business operating here.
The Bigger Picture — and How to Turn This Into an Opportunity
EmpCo sits within a broader EU regulatory agenda that also includes the Right to Repair Directive and the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation. The direction is clear: greenwashing is no longer a risk that can be managed with careful wording. Companies that communicate about sustainability will need to back up every claim with verifiable data — or stop making it.
That can feel daunting — but it can also be an opportunity. Businesses that invest now in measuring their actual environmental impact, structuring credible evidence, and building genuine sustainability into their strategy will be better placed than those who scramble to revise communications at the last minute. More importantly, they will be the ones that consumers and business partners can actually trust.
At Sustainability Mindset, this is exactly the kind of work we support: carbon footprint calculations, CSR strategy development, and environmental KPI frameworks — the building blocks that turn sustainability from a communication promise into a demonstrated, documented reality. If your company is asking itself whether its current green claims will hold up under the new rules, that is a good starting point for a conversation.
Interested in reviewing your sustainability communications or building the evidence base behind your environmental claims?