{"id":36219,"date":"2026-11-05T10:52:43","date_gmt":"2026-11-05T09:52:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ebrofoods.es\/?p=36219"},"modified":"2026-11-05T10:56:55","modified_gmt":"2026-11-05T09:56:55","slug":"say-and-show-about-sustainability-from-now-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ebrofoods.es\/en\/caring-for-news\/say-and-show-about-sustainability-from-now-on\/","title":{"rendered":"What can we say -and show- about sustainability from now on?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A line on packaging, a social media post, a press release, a label, a product name or even an image can send consumers a message about sustainability. That is exactly what the European Union has set out to regulate through the new <strong>Directive on Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition, known as the EmpCo Directive<\/strong>, which strengthens the requirements that apply to these types of claims.<\/p>\n<p>This affects many areas across our organisation: <strong>Marketing and Brand Management; Communications, Press and Social Media; Sustainability; Commercial and Sales; Legal and Regulatory Affairs; Innovation and Product Development; Quality; Procurement; Design; and Packaging and Labelling Development or Validation.<\/strong> In short, anyone who creates, reviews, approves or shares consumer-facing content, in any physical or digital format, needs to keep these requirements in mind.<\/p>\n<h2>What changes in practice?<\/h2>\n<p>Here are some of the main changes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Generic claims are no longer acceptable.<\/strong> Terms such as \u201cgreen\u201d, \u201ceco\u201d or \u201csustainable\u201d cannot be used without clear and sufficient justification.<\/li>\n<li><strong>We cannot attribute a benefit to the whole when it applies only to one part.<\/strong> For example, an improvement in packaging does not automatically make the entire product sustainable.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Labels and seals must be substantiated.<\/strong> Only those based on certification schemes with independent oversight or established by a public authority may be used.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Future commitments must be supported by specific plans.<\/strong> Environmental targets must include measurable goals, an implementation plan and proper monitoring.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Design communicates too.<\/strong> An image, icon, colour or name can suggest an environmental quality even if it is not stated explicitly.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Where should we focus our attention?<\/h2>\n<p>Here are some situations in which we need to be especially thorough in our reviews:<\/p>\n<table  class=\" table table-hover\" >\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>If we are working on\u2026<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>We should check\u2026<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Packaging or labelling<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Words, labels, icons, colours and images that may suggest an environmental or social benefit.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>A campaign, website, press release or social media post<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Whether every claim is specific, understandable and substantiated.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>A product name or new brand<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Whether the name itself may imply an environmental benefit that needs to be substantiated.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>A future commitment<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Whether there is a plan, measurable targets and monitoring to support what we announce.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Sales materials or a presentation<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Whether we are attributing an advantage to the entire product or company when it applies only to one specific aspect.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2>Before you publish, design or launch<\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>Could consumers read the message differently from how we intend it?<\/li>\n<li>Have we reviewed everything together (words, images, icons, colours and design) and not just the text?<\/li>\n<li>Does another part of the organisation need to sign it off before we go ahead?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>This is not about communicating less on sustainability, but about doing it clearly, precisely and with evidence behind it.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Want to know more?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You can read the <a href=\"https:\/\/eur-lex.europa.eu\/legal-content\/EN\/TXT\/HTML\/?uri=OJ:L_202400825\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">full text of Directive (EU) 2024\/825<\/a> on the official portal for European Union law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A line on packaging, a social media post, a press release, a label, a product name or even an image can send consumers a message about sustainability. That is exactly what the European Union has set out to regulate through the new Directive on Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition, known as the EmpCo Directive,&#8230;<a class=\"moretag botonLeerMas\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ebrofoods.es\/en\/caring-for-news\/say-and-show-about-sustainability-from-now-on\/\"> Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[171],"class_list":["post-36219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-caring-for-news","tag-caring-for-news-25-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ebrofoods.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ebrofoods.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ebrofoods.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ebrofoods.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ebrofoods.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36219"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ebrofoods.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36220,"href":"https:\/\/www.ebrofoods.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36219\/revisions\/36220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ebrofoods.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ebrofoods.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ebrofoods.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}