The word green, on its own, will no longer be enough from now on. The same applies to sustainable, eco-friendly, environmentally friendly, biodegradable, low-impact, respectful of the environment. And so on. From 27 September, Italy will enforce the provisions of the European directive on greenwashing, transposed by Legislative Decree no. 30 of 20 February last, which formally entered into force in March. It will not only be a question of misleading language: the directive also intervenes on durability, repairability, premature obsolescence and the information to be provided to consumers.
The new rules – which have been inserted directly into the "Consumer Code" – are not a ban on businesses talking about sustainability. The concept introduced by the new regulation is that, in presenting itself and its products, the company can no longer use generic or vague formulas with respect to the results it can actually prove.
The communication used must be specific, understandable, relevant, proportionate, demonstrable and not capable of creating in the consumer an environmental impression that is greater than it actually is.
The directive – which amends both the rules on unfair commercial practices and those on consumer rights, already existing at European level – must be applied primarily to commercial communications addressed to the consumer. A very broad area, which includes advertising, websites and e-commerce, product pages, social campaigns, videos, commercials, product packaging and labels, catalogues, brochures, materials present in points of sale, names chosen for products, names of commercial lines. But also trademarks and, of no small importance, the very names of companies. In addition to symbols, logos and graphic representations that implicitly communicate an environmental benefit.
Sustainability reports and impact reports of Benefit Corporations are not exempt from the directive either: although these are not direct commercial communications (towards consumers), their content is very often taken up within communication channels (social media, websites, etc.) and therefore immediately becomes a field of application of the new rules
Going into a little more detail, the decree that will be applied in Italy from the end of September speaks of environmental claims. What does this mean? It means deciding to communicate that one's product has a positive or zero impact on the environment; that one's business is less harmful to the environment than others; that one's product, from an environmental point of view, is better than others; that one's company or product has improved its impact over time. Claims that are made explicitly – stating for example that what is being marketed is an eco-friendly product – but also implicitly, using in one's communication a set of components (words, colours, images, symbols) that suggest in the imagination of those who have to buy that what they are facing has a certain environmental quality.
Unless one is able to demonstrate a recognised excellence of environmental performance, generic environmental claims will now be prohibited. In short, to claim to be respectful of the environment or to make sustainable products, it becomes necessary to have one's papers in order. Or to transform the message into a specific, limited and demonstrable statement. Adherent to reality. And so the claim "eco-friendly packaging" becomes for example "packaging made with 70% recycled plastic". The simple and glittering "sustainable product" will have to be transformed into "100% wood coming from certified forests according to this or that standard". If until now companies relied on a reliable "green energy", it will now have to be specified that "100% of the electricity used in the plant comes from renewable sources" and from "biodegradable" one will have to pass to "biodegradable under industrial composting conditions according to standard so-and-so". Even the formula "reduces emissions" is no longer enough: to avoid risks, it is better to specify that "CO2 emissions of the production process have been reduced by 18% compared to 2024, according to one or another measurement method".
It does not end here. Because the provisions are also clear regarding the scope of claims. In the sense that it will be prohibited to use the partial benefits of a single product in communication formulas that refer to the entire product. And, if the improvements achieved concern only a specific plant or production line, the entire company will not be able to benefit from that advantage. The real perimeter of the benefit must be strictly respected. Because if a company uses renewable energy in only one of its locations, it cannot define itself overall as zero-impact. Just as it cannot present an entire collection as certified if that certification concerns only some of the products that compose it.
The same applies to certifications: according to the new legislation, holding a certification cannot lead to misleading messages. In the sense that, at the communication level, they must be contextualised and well circumscribed.
Precise rules will also govern the so-called climate neutrality and emission offsetting. Terms such as neutral, reduced, offset and positive referred to greenhouse gas emissions will be prohibited if the result depends solely on the offsetting of emissions and if neutrality derives from the purchase of carbon credits outside the product value chain. What can be done then in these cases? It will be possible to communicate it as separate and precise information, but not as a direct declaration of the product, as any reduction attributed to the product must derive from its actual life cycle and its value chain, not only from external compensations.
Then there is the issue of future promises, the famous declarations of intent. Medium and long-term commitments – until now one of the great strengths of corporate environmental communication – could run the risk of being considered misleading if they are not supported by clear and objective commitments, detailed and realistic implementation plans, measurable targets, precise deadlines, allocated resources, publicly available information, periodic verifications by third parties with results accessible to consumers.
One of the thorniest chapters touched upon by the provisions concerns sustainability labels and badges. No more free creation of corporate green trademarks or logos, therefore. No more self-declarations by the company, presented graphically as guarantee badges. But only sustainability labels established by public authorities or based on a real certification system.
We are therefore moving towards a narrative in which the comparison of products on the basis of sustainability, emissions, durability, repairability, recyclability and social characteristics can only be made if information on the method used, the sample of products or companies compared, the reference period, the origin of the data and the system used to update the information are made available at the same time.
Prohibitions on the life of products are also introduced. It will not be possible to falsely declare a certain duration of the product, present as repairable something that is not, advertise a good knowing that it contains a feature designed to limit its duration, push the consumer to replace consumables before it is technically necessary, fail to inform that a software update will have negative effects on the functioning of the product, present as necessary an update that only serves to add new functionalities. On the contrary, consumers must be informed about the duration of the commercial guarantee, the period of software updates, the repairability index, spare parts, estimated costs, ordering procedures, maintenance instructions and any limitations to repair.
To monitor any violations will be the Competition and Market Authority, which may sanction commercial practices deemed unfair with administrative fines from 5 thousand to 10 million euros.
For their part, companies will not be forced to request prior authorisations for what they communicate on environmental matters, but they will have to be able to demonstrate what they choose to communicate. Independent verifications will focus mainly on promises relating to future environmental performance and private certification systems.
