The European Commission has announced plans to withdraw its proposed Green Claims Directive, a legislative initiative designed to strengthen controls on environmental claims made by businesses across the European Union.

The proposal, introduced in March 2023, aimed to establish common requirements for companies to substantiate voluntary environmental claims about their products and services. It also proposed independent verification of certain claims and sustainability labels to help prevent misleading environmental marketing and greenwashing.

The Commission included the proposal in the withdrawals section of its 2027 Work Programme, published on 4 November 2026. It intends to withdraw the proposal within six months, citing the lack of sufficient support in the Council to reach an agreement within a reasonable timeframe. Discussions on the proposal had stalled after negotiations failed to make progress in 2025.

If withdrawn, the directive’s proposed requirements for scientific substantiation, independent verification and communication of environmental claims will not proceed in their planned form. This removes a proposed additional layer of EU-wide regulation for businesses making environmental claims.

However, the development does not mean that environmental marketing claims are no longer regulated in the EU. The separate Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive (EmpCo) began applying on 27 September 2026. It strengthens existing consumer-protection rules against misleading environmental claims, unsupported sustainability labels and certain carbon-neutrality claims based on offsetting.

The Commission’s announcement therefore marks a significant change in the EU’s proposed approach to green claims regulation, while existing anti-greenwashing requirements remain applicable. The Green Claims Directive proposal is still formally pending until the withdrawal process is completed.