The EU’s Green Transition Consumer Protection Directive, which will enter into force in 2026, sets limits on how companies can communicate about their sustainability. At Kaskas, we see this development as an opportunity: when communication is based on facts and clarity, it also becomes more impactful.
The Green Transition Consumer Protection Directive in a nutshell
The directive was adopted in February 2024 and must be applied in EU member states no later than September 2026. In practice, it updates two existing pieces of legislation: the Consumer Rights Directive (CRD) and the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD). In Finland, implementation and enforcement are led by the Consumer Ombudsman, who ensures that companies comply with consumer protection laws also in their sustainability communications.
The directive applies to all sustainability claims directed at consumers — whether they concern a product, a service, a company, or a brand.
In practice, the Green Transition Consumer Protection Directive prohibits:
- General sustainability terms without direct evidence
- Company-created sustainability labels
- Climate claims for products or services based on compensation or offsetting
- Target-based claims without a verifiable commitment and implementation plan
- Comparative claims without evidence
- Vague or irrelevant claims related to social responsibility
In a recent study conducted by Kaskas, we examined how well brands perceived as the most responsible in Finland already meet the directive’s requirements.
What about the Green Claims Directive?
The Green Transition Consumer Protection Directive goes hand in hand with another important piece of legislation: the Green Claims Directive. This directive focuses on the verification of environmental claims. In the future, companies will be required to have their claims verified by an accredited third party before using them.
However, the Green Claims Directive has not yet been adopted at the EU level. In autumn 2025, trilogue negotiations between the European Parliament and the Council are continuing, and the directive’s final content and fate remain uncertain. The Green Claims Directive came close to being withdrawn in summer 2025, highlighting how difficult it is to reach a common EU-wide approach to regulating environmental claims.
National oversight complements EU regulation
EU-level regulation is complemented in Finland by several national guidelines and self-regulatory bodies.
The Consumer Ombudsman oversees environmental claims as part of consumer protection legislation. The Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority’s (KKV) most recent guidance, updated in 2019, emphasises that sustainability claims must be precise, verifiable, and proportionate to the product’s entire life cycle. General or exaggerated claims are considered misleading. In recent years, the Consumer Ombudsman has taken an increasingly active role in addressing misleading environmental marketing.
In 2023, the Business Practice Committee of the Finnish Chamber of Commerce published recommendations on the use of environmental claims. These are based on the International Chamber of Commerce’s (ICC) advertising and marketing rules and emphasise clarity, verifiability, and truthfulness. Companies should not use general claims such as “ecological” or “environmentally friendly” without strong evidence.
The Council of Ethics in Advertising, which operates under the Finnish Chamber of Commerce, oversees compliance with good advertising practice based on ICC rules and may issue reprimands to companies for breaches. In recent years, carbon neutrality claims in particular have been under close scrutiny.
Explore our study
Download our study below: Green or Greenwashed? How Finland’s Most Responsible Brands Communicate.