The Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have adopted a directive that seeks to protect consumers from misleading marketing claims, with 593 votes in favour, 21 against and 14 abstentions.

The EU intends to add a number of “problematic” generic marketing terms related to greenwashing and the early obsolescence of goods to the list of banned commercial practices.

The new rules aim to make product labelling clearer and more trustworthy by banning the use of environmental claims such as “environmentally friendly”, “natural”, “biodegradable”, “climate neutral” or “eco” without proof.

The European Parliament explained the new directive is meant to work together with the green claims directive which is currently being discussed at committee stage in Parliament.

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... the directive will ban claims that a product has a neutral, reduced or positive impact on the environment because of emissions offsetting schemes.

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The draft proposal for the law was first announced in March 2023 following a Commission study in 2020 that highlighted 53.3% of examined environmental claims in the EU were found to be vague, misleading or unfounded and 40% were unsubstantiated.