EU Eliminates Anti-Greenwashing Legislation by Rolling Back Green Claims Directive
The European Commission on Friday announced the withdrawal of the Green Claims Directive, saying it wanted to reduce the administrative burden for small companies, in particular microenterprises.

(Photo: SBR)
MADRID, June 30, 2025 — The European Union (EU) recently brought end to a process, which could have formulated a new legislation to tighten rules governing environmental claims of companies.
The European Commission, announced on Friday the withdrawal of the Green Claims Directive. After a weekend marred by confusion, the Commission’s chief spokesperson Paula Pinho, in a press briefing on Monday gave clarity on its position.
“One of the priorities of this Commission is to reduce the administrative burden for small companies, and, in particular, for microenterprises. This is an essential part of our simplification agenda,” she said, highlighting similar rollbacks on sustainability reporting and due diligence made under the EU Omnibus Simplification Package earlier this year.
For UK’s fashion brands, investing more in sustainability has always been a priority area. Traditionally, EU is known to toe the party line
that greenwashing is rife and needs to be regulated.
EU’s own research found that 53 percent of green claims give vague, misleading or unfounded information; 40 percent of claims have no supporting evidence; and 50 per cent of all green labels offer weak or non-existent verification.
Year 2023 became a turning point for sustainability in fashion, when European Commission committed to draft a new regulation against greenwashing. The COVID-19 pandemic was pivotal for the fashion industry, as it made people to ponder upon what they consumed, even the clothing.
Even as the draft regulation against greenwashing had drawn severe criticism, many fashion brands in the UK started withdrawing their green claims, popularly referred as getting into “greenhushing” mode.
The much-awaited Green Claims Directive, was due to be finalised in the coming weeks, entirely focused to streamline rules for the fashion industry for its green claims. The directive called for green claims to be specific, proven with scientific evidence, checked by independent accredited verifiers, and communicated to consumers in a clear way, all of which required significant paperwork and auditing.
As per the draft published in March 2023, it would have been a requirement for brands to provide concrete proof of their environmental efforts, failing which they would attract penalty of fines of at least 4 percent of the company’s turnover.
Activists, who support sustainable fashion, had criticized the “vagueness” of the new regulations, after the draft was published.
European fashion brands had already started working in line with it, keen to follow the new anti-greenwashing laws and avoid broader crackdowns on greenwashing from consumer market authorities. However, on Friday, the European Commission caused a stir when it withdrew its support for the directive at the eleventh hour.
The supporters of Green Claims Directive strongly suggest that it would have streamlined the greenwashing rules. They say that regulating greenwashing is possible only with the enforcement under European jurisdictions.
The consequences for non-compliance with the directive could range from fines and the removal of products to adjustments in product positioning, depending on the scale of violations.
Industry followers say in absence of the Green Claims Directive, there would be inconsistent enforcement and confusion of existing greenwashing rules.
The Commission’s new stance is a blow to green claims, but the regulatory rollback on sustainability it feeds into is even more troubling, Elisabeth von Reitzenstein, Senior Director of Public Affairs at global non-profit alliance Cascale told Vogue Business.
“We’re seeing a troubling shift away from progressive climate action in markets that once set the pace. While not perfect, the Green Claims Directive would have marked an important leap forward. We urge the Commission [...] not to halt the negotiations,” Reitzenstein told Vogue Business.
There is lack of clarity on whether there would be any further deliberations on the issue. “The EU is at a crossroads. It can either be swayed by the big agents with the money to employ the best lobbyists, or it can decide to be brave and embrace the Green Claims Directive, putting the planet over profit,” Reitzenstein told Vogue Business.
“In an ideal world, the fashion industry would align and brands would work collaboratively to propose improvements to the directive, rather than staying silent or lobbying for its demise behind closed doors. This would be the biggest achievement and enable real progress,” she further added.
Many fashion brands had already started working in line with it, keen to get ahead and avoid broader crackdowns on greenwashing from consumer market authorities.
Inputs from Saqib Malik
Editing by David Ryder