{"id":9162,"date":"2026-08-29T12:14:35","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T12:14:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/salago.design\/?p=9162"},"modified":"2026-08-29T12:37:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T12:37:19","slug":"impact-branding-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/blog\/impact-branding-claims\/","title":{"rendered":"When Your Value Is Impact: What to Change Before 27 September 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Quick answer<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On <strong>27 September 2026<\/strong>, the EU\u2019s Empowering Consumers Directive (2024\/825) becomes binding across the Union, with no transition period. From that date, a set of claims that appear on almost every impact-driven company\u2019s website stop being allowed: <strong>generic environmental terms<\/strong> such as \u201ceco-friendly\u201d, \u201cgreen\u201d or \u201csustainable\u201d without recognised certification or verifiable data; <strong>product-level carbon-neutrality claims based on offsetting<\/strong>; <strong>self-created sustainability badges<\/strong> that look like certifications; <strong>future pledges<\/strong> such as \u201cnet zero by 2030\u201d without a published, monitored, independently verified plan; unverified recyclability; and comparative claims without a stated methodology. Penalties run to at least <strong>4% of annual turnover in the member state, or \u20ac2 million<\/strong>. Courts have already been enforcing the substance under existing consumer law \u2014 TotalEnergies, FlixBus and Apple all lost in 2025. <strong>For a company whose value is impact, this is not a compliance chore. It is a repositioning deadline<\/strong>, because the words being banned are usually the words doing the positioning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>This article is written for founders and marketing leads, and it is <strong>not legal advice<\/strong>. The dates and prohibitions below are drawn from two independent regulatory summaries and are cited in the text; before changing or keeping a claim, have it reviewed by a lawyer who knows how your member state transposed the directive. Price ranges are European market references for 2026, not Salago\u2019s rates.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What changes on 27 September 2026<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some context first, because there has been genuine confusion. The <strong>Green Claims Directive<\/strong> \u2014 the proposal that would have required environmental claims to be verified <em>before<\/em> publication \u2014 was <strong>withdrawn by the European Commission in June 2025<\/strong>. A lot of companies read that as a reprieve. It was the opposite of a reprieve: what was withdrawn was the procedure that would have told you in advance whether your claim was acceptable. The substantive bans were never in that directive. They are in Directive <strong>2024\/825<\/strong>, which member states had to transpose by <strong>27 March 2026<\/strong> and which applies EU-wide from <strong>27 September 2026<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\">\n<table>\n<thead><tr><th>What you probably say today<\/th><th>Status from 27 Sep 2026<\/th><th>What can replace it<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr><td>\u201cSustainable\u201d, \u201cgreen\u201d, \u201ceco-friendly\u201d, \u201cclimate-friendly\u201d<\/td><td>Banned as a generic claim unless backed by recognised certification or verifiable data<\/td><td>The specific effect, quantified: what is reduced, by how much, against what baseline, measured how.<\/td><\/tr>\n<tr><td>\u201cCarbon neutral\u201d \/ \u201cclimate neutral\u201d product, via offsetting<\/td><td>Banned at product level when it relies on offsets outside the value chain<\/td><td>Emissions actually reduced inside the value chain, stated separately from anything purchased.<\/td><\/tr>\n<tr><td>Your own leaf icon or \u201ceco\u201d badge<\/td><td>Banned unless it comes from a third-party certification scheme with publicly accessible conditions<\/td><td>A real certification, or no badge at all and the number in words.<\/td><\/tr>\n<tr><td>\u201cNet zero by 2030\u201d<\/td><td>Banned without a detailed, public, time-bound plan verified by an independent third party<\/td><td>The next milestone you can evidence, with the date and who checks it.<\/td><\/tr>\n<tr><td>\u201cRecyclable\u201d<\/td><td>Banned without verified local recycling infrastructure<\/td><td>Where it is actually recyclable, named.<\/td><\/tr>\n<tr><td>\u201cGreener than\u201d, \u201cthe most sustainable\u201d<\/td><td>Banned without a published methodology and baseline<\/td><td>A comparison with its method attached, or no comparison.<\/td><\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Prohibitions introduced by Directive (EU) 2024\/825, applicable EU-wide from 27 September 2026. Summarised from two independent regulatory analyses; not legal advice.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Read the right-hand column again. Every replacement is <strong>more specific and less flattering<\/strong> than what it replaces. That is the whole shift, and it is why this lands on the brand rather than on the legal team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why this is a positioning problem, not a compliance one<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The instinct is to hand the list to legal, strike the offending words and move on. That produces a website with holes in it, because for most impact companies <strong>the banned words were carrying the differentiation<\/strong>. Remove \u201csustainable\u201d from a page built on the word \u201csustainable\u201d and what remains is a description of a product that now sounds like everybody else\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is a second, less obvious consequence. If generic environmental language stops being available to everyone at once, then <strong>the companies that can be specific gain a differentiator they did not have before<\/strong>. Until now, a company with real measured outcomes and a company with a nice adjective looked broadly similar on a homepage. From September they will not. That is the opportunity buried inside the deadline, and it goes to whoever did the work of measuring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The harder problem underneath<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Regulation is the deadline, but it is not the actual difficulty. The actual difficulty is older and structural: <strong>in an impact company the value does not fit in the spreadsheet the buyer uses to decide.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A biotech has a readout. An agtech has a yield trial. An impact-driven business often has an outcome that is real, verifiable and genuinely valuable \u2014 water not used, soil not degraded, waste not created, a supply chain that does not exploit anyone \u2014 and none of it appears as a line in the purchase decision of the person signing. The buyer is asked to pay a premium for an absence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That is why so much impact communication reaches for feeling: when you cannot put the value in the model, you try to put it in the mood. It is an understandable move and it is now also a regulated one. The alternative is harder and works better \u2014 <strong>find the version of the impact that does show up in the buyer\u2019s own numbers<\/strong>, and lead with that, with the ethical argument standing behind it rather than in front of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\">\n<table>\n<thead><tr><th>The impact you deliver<\/th><th>How it usually gets said<\/th><th>The version that enters the buyer\u2019s model<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr><td>Lower resource use<\/td><td>\u201cSustainable by design\u201d<\/td><td>Cost per unit of input avoided, at their volumes.<\/td><\/tr>\n<tr><td>Regulatory exposure reduced<\/td><td>\u201cFuture-proof\u201d<\/td><td>Which specific obligation it anticipates, and what non-compliance costs.<\/td><\/tr>\n<tr><td>Supply chain that holds up to scrutiny<\/td><td>\u201cEthical sourcing\u201d<\/td><td>Audit and traceability their own customers will demand, already done.<\/td><\/tr>\n<tr><td>Longer product life<\/td><td>\u201cCircular\u201d<\/td><td>Replacement cycle extended by n years, so the annualised cost falls.<\/td><\/tr>\n<tr><td>Better outcomes for people<\/td><td>\u201cPurpose-driven\u201d<\/td><td>Retention, absenteeism, adoption \u2014 whichever one they already report on.<\/td><\/tr>\n<tr><td>Lower emissions in the value chain<\/td><td>\u201cCarbon neutral\u201d<\/td><td>The reduction inside scope 1\u20133 that their own reporting has to absorb.<\/td><\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The same impact, said three ways. The third column is the only one that survives both a procurement conversation and the September deadline.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The honest caveat: this reframing only works if you have measured. If the impact is real but undocumented, the work to do first is measurement, not messaging \u2014 and no brand project should pretend otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Three companies that already lost<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The directive applies from September, but courts have been reaching the same conclusions under existing consumer law for a year, which is the clearest signal of where enforcement is heading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>TotalEnergies<\/strong> \u2014 the Paris tribunal ordered the removal of carbon-neutrality marketing in <strong>October 2025<\/strong>, with a <strong>\u20ac10,000 per day<\/strong> penalty for non-compliance.<\/li>\n\n\n<li><strong>FlixBus<\/strong> \u2014 the German Federal Court ruled in <strong>February 2025<\/strong> against \u201cklimaneutral\u201d messaging that was not substantiated in the same medium where the claim appeared.<\/li>\n\n\n<li><strong>Apple<\/strong> \u2014 barred in <strong>Frankfurt in 2025<\/strong> from describing the Apple Watch as carbon neutral in Germany.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Three very large companies with very large legal departments. The lesson is not that they were careless; it is that <strong>the claim itself was the problem<\/strong>, and no amount of legal review rescues a claim that cannot be substantiated. Which is exactly why this belongs in the brand conversation, before it is written, rather than in the review that happens after.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What it costs to fix<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is no separate \u201cimpact rate\u201d. What varies is how much of the brand was resting on the words that are going away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\">\n<table>\n<thead><tr><th>Situation<\/th><th>What it takes<\/th><th>Market range (2026)<\/th><th>Time<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr><td>The claims are decoration, the positioning stands without them<\/td><td>Claims audit and rewrite of the affected copy<\/td><td>\u20ac2,500\u2013\u20ac8,000<\/td><td>1\u20132 weeks<\/td><\/tr>\n<tr><td>Some pages are built on generic claims<\/td><td>Claims audit plus messaging rework and new proof hierarchy<\/td><td>\u20ac8,000\u2013\u20ac30,000<\/td><td>2\u20134 weeks<\/td><\/tr>\n<tr><td><strong>The positioning itself is the banned word<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Repositioning: category, claim architecture, proof<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>\u20ac20,000\u2013\u20ac45,000<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>12\u201316 weeks<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>\n<tr><td>Self-made eco badges are in packaging and labels<\/td><td>The above plus identity and packaging rework<\/td><td>\u20ac50,000\u2013\u20ac150,000+<\/td><td>4\u20136 months<\/td><\/tr>\n<tr><td>Several markets, each with its own transposition<\/td><td>Add a claim set per territory<\/td><td>+30\u2013100%<\/td><td>+4\u20138 weeks<\/td><\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">European market ranges by scope for 2026. The first row is the common case and the cheapest; the third is where most impact-led companies actually sit. Market references, not Salago\u2019s rates.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Note the asymmetry in that table. <strong>Finding out which row you are on costs a few days.<\/strong> Assuming you are on the first row and discovering in October that you were on the third is what makes it expensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">When to act and when not to<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Act now if any of these is true: your homepage headline contains a word from the banned list; you use an own-brand eco badge; you make a product-level carbon-neutral claim; you have a public net-zero pledge without a verified, published plan; or you sell into more than one member state, since transposition differs and the strictest one sets your practical limit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Do not act yet if your impact is real but unmeasured. In that case the money belongs in measurement and verification first \u2014 a repositioning built on numbers you cannot evidence recreates the same problem with better typography, and does it after the deadline rather than before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How we approach it at Salago<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We have built brands whose value is impact \u2014 <strong>Kynegos<\/strong>, which did not fit any of the available labels, and <strong>Norte Organics<\/strong> in organic production. In both cases the work was the same: find the version of the claim that is narrow enough to be true, specific enough to be checked, and still worth reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For this deadline specifically, the <a href=\"https:\/\/salago.design\/brand-audit\/\">Brand Audit<\/a> is the right first step and takes three to five days: an inventory of every claim you currently make, sorted into what survives September, what needs evidence you already have, and what has to be replaced. That inventory is useful whatever you decide next, and it is what tells you which row of the table above you are on. From there, <a href=\"https:\/\/salago.design\/clarity-strategy-design\/\">Clarity<\/a> if the positioning has to be rebuilt, <a href=\"https:\/\/salago.design\/visual-identity\/\">Identity<\/a> if badges and packaging are affected, and <a href=\"https:\/\/salago.design\/system-brand-experience\/\">System<\/a> when it has to reach the website, the deck and the sales conversation before the date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And the uncomfortable part: we are a design studio, not a law firm. We can tell you which claims are doing the positioning work and how to replace them without losing the argument. Whether a specific sentence is compliant in your member state is a question for a lawyer, and we would rather say that than pretend otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Frequently asked questions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"schema-faq wp-block-yoast-faq-block\">\n<div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-940010\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\">What changes for environmental claims on 27 September 2026?<\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\">Directive (EU) 2024\/825, the Empowering Consumers Directive, becomes binding EU-wide with no transition period. It bans generic environmental claims such as \u201ceco-friendly\u201d, \u201cgreen\u201d or \u201csustainable\u201d without recognised certification or verifiable data; product-level carbon-neutrality claims based on offsetting outside the value chain; self-created sustainability badges; future pledges without a published, monitored, independently verified plan; unverified recyclability claims; and comparisons without a stated methodology.<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-940011\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\">Was the Green Claims Directive not withdrawn?<\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\">Yes, in June 2025 \u2014 and it changed less than people assume. The withdrawn proposal was the procedural one, which would have let you have a claim verified before publishing it. The substantive bans live in Directive 2024\/825, which was already adopted and applies from 27 September 2026. In practice the withdrawal removed the safety net, not the rules.<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-940012\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\">What are the penalties?<\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\">Member states must provide penalties of at least 4% of the trader\u2019s annual turnover in the member state concerned, or at least \u20ac2 million where turnover cannot be established, for widespread infringements. Enforcement also includes injunctions, and in some member states revenue confiscation and exclusion from public procurement.<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-940013\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\">Can we still say we are sustainable?<\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\">Not as a bare claim. \u201cSustainable\u201d used generically requires recognised certification or verifiable data demonstrating excellent environmental performance relevant to the claim. What replaces it is the specific effect quantified: what is reduced, by how much, against which baseline, measured how. In practice that is a stronger sentence anyway, because everyone else has just lost the adjective.<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-940014\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\">Can we keep our own eco label or badge?<\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\">Only if it comes from a certification scheme with third-party verification and publicly accessible conditions. Own-brand leaf icons and badges that imply official certification are prohibited. If you have one on packaging, that is an identity and print project, not a copy change, and it needs more lead time than the website does.<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-940015\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\">We have a net-zero commitment. Does it survive?<\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\">Only with a detailed implementation plan that is public, has measurable time-bound targets, and is verified by an independent third-party expert whose findings are also public. A pledge without that behind it is prohibited as a future-performance claim.<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-940016\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\">Is this only relevant to consumer brands?<\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\">The directive amends consumer-protection law, so consumer-facing claims are the clearest exposure. But B2B companies in impact sectors are affected in two ways: their own consumer-facing communication, and their customers, who now need substantiated inputs to make their own claims. If you sell into a brand that has to comply, your evidence becomes part of their compliance.<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-940017\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\">How long does it take to fix a brand built on banned words?<\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\">A claims audit takes three to five days and tells you the scale. Rewriting affected copy is one to two weeks. A full repositioning, when the banned word was the positioning, is twelve to sixteen weeks \u2014 which is why the audit is worth doing now rather than in September.<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-940018\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\">Is this article legal advice?<\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\">No. It is written for founders and marketing leads and summarises publicly available regulatory analyses so you know which questions to ask. Transposition differs by member state, and whether a specific claim is compliant is a question for a lawyer.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">In short<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From <strong>27 September 2026<\/strong> the vocabulary most impact companies use to describe themselves stops being available. The right reaction is not to delete the words and hope the page still stands up \u2014 it is to notice that <strong>the words were doing the positioning<\/strong>, and to replace them with the version of your impact that shows up in the buyer\u2019s own numbers. That version was always the stronger argument; the deadline just removes the easier alternative. And when generic language disappears for everyone at once, specificity becomes a differentiator for the companies that measured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The cheapest useful next step is an inventory of what you currently claim, sorted by what survives. That is what the <a href=\"https:\/\/salago.design\/brand-audit\/\">Brand Audit<\/a> does in three to five days, or you can <a href=\"https:\/\/salago.design\/contact\/\">send us your homepage and the claims you rely on<\/a> and we will tell you which row of that table you are on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Related reading: <a href=\"https:\/\/salago.design\/blog\/climate-tech-branding-green-premium\/\">Climate tech branding when nobody pays the green premium<\/a>, where the same buyer refuses the premium your positioning assumes. <a href=\"https:\/\/salago.design\/blog\/agtech-branding\/\">branding for agtech<\/a>, where the constraint is a field rather than a regulator. <a href=\"https:\/\/salago.design\/blog\/biotech-rebrand-cost\/\">How much a biotech rebrand costs<\/a>, where it is the EMA. <a href=\"https:\/\/salago.design\/blog\/b2b-branding-cost\/\">How much a B2B branding project costs<\/a>, with the full scope table. And <a href=\"https:\/\/salago.design\/blog\/brand-positioning-for-b2b-a-practical-framework-to-differentiate-yourself\/\">brand positioning for B2B<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Quick answer On 27 September 2026, the EU\u2019s Empowering Consumers Directive (2024\/825) becomes binding across the Union, with no transition [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":9163,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"page_builder":"","_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-branding"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Impact Branding and the EU Claims Deadline 2026<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"From 27 September 2026 generic green claims are banned in the EU. What impact companies have to change in their brand, what replaces it, and what it costs.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/blog\/impact-branding-claims\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Impact Branding and the EU Claims Deadline 2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"From 27 September 2026 generic green claims are banned in the EU. 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Not legal advice."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/blog\/impact-branding-claims\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Portada","item":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"When Your Value Is Impact: What to Change Before 27 September 2026"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/","name":"Salago Creative","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/#organization","name":"Salago","alternateName":"Salago Design","url":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/salago.design\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/salago.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/salago.design\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/salago.png","width":1164,"height":460,"caption":"Salago"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/salago.design","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/salago-design"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/1d178dde771050ceaa76f2d20554bafd","name":"Cristian Salazar","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e4aa95092c35970e611df14052a1f14eb48868bd14c5df2fcd6fba250faaa687?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e4aa95092c35970e611df14052a1f14eb48868bd14c5df2fcd6fba250faaa687?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e4aa95092c35970e611df14052a1f14eb48868bd14c5df2fcd6fba250faaa687?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Cristian Salazar"},"description":"Brand design and strategy are key to competing in today's constantly evolving environment. I work with CEOs, founders, and CMOs to transform complexity into clarity and that clarity into real growth. For over 10 years, I've led Salago, a strategic design studio in Madrid, working on projects for startups, scaleups, and global institutions. My approach combines creative direction, branding, and strategic thinking to build brands that inspire trust, align teams, and generate impact.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/cris_salago\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/cristiansalazargomez\/"],"url":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/blog\/author\/cristian-salazar\/"},{"@type":"Question","@id":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/blog\/impact-branding-claims\/#faq-question-940010","position":1,"url":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/blog\/impact-branding-claims\/#faq-question-940010","name":"What changes for environmental claims on 27 September 2026?","answerCount":1,"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Directive (EU) 2024\/825, the Empowering Consumers Directive, becomes binding EU-wide with no transition period. It bans generic environmental claims such as \u201ceco-friendly\u201d, \u201cgreen\u201d or \u201csustainable\u201d without recognised certification or verifiable data; product-level carbon-neutrality claims based on offsetting outside the value chain; self-created sustainability badges; future pledges without a published, monitored, independently verified plan; unverified recyclability claims; and comparisons without a stated methodology.","inLanguage":"en-US"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Question","@id":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/blog\/impact-branding-claims\/#faq-question-940011","position":2,"url":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/blog\/impact-branding-claims\/#faq-question-940011","name":"Was the Green Claims Directive not withdrawn?","answerCount":1,"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Yes, in June 2025 \u2014 and it changed less than people assume. The withdrawn proposal was the procedural one, which would have let you have a claim verified before publishing it. The substantive bans live in Directive 2024\/825, which was already adopted and applies from 27 September 2026. In practice the withdrawal removed the safety net, not the rules.","inLanguage":"en-US"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Question","@id":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/blog\/impact-branding-claims\/#faq-question-940012","position":3,"url":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/blog\/impact-branding-claims\/#faq-question-940012","name":"What are the penalties?","answerCount":1,"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Member states must provide penalties of at least 4% of the trader\u2019s annual turnover in the member state concerned, or at least \u20ac2 million where turnover cannot be established, for widespread infringements. Enforcement also includes injunctions, and in some member states revenue confiscation and exclusion from public procurement.","inLanguage":"en-US"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Question","@id":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/blog\/impact-branding-claims\/#faq-question-940013","position":4,"url":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/blog\/impact-branding-claims\/#faq-question-940013","name":"Can we still say we are sustainable?","answerCount":1,"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Not as a bare claim. \u201cSustainable\u201d used generically requires recognised certification or verifiable data demonstrating excellent environmental performance relevant to the claim. What replaces it is the specific effect quantified: what is reduced, by how much, against which baseline, measured how. In practice that is a stronger sentence anyway, because everyone else has just lost the adjective.","inLanguage":"en-US"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Question","@id":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/blog\/impact-branding-claims\/#faq-question-940014","position":5,"url":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/blog\/impact-branding-claims\/#faq-question-940014","name":"Can we keep our own eco label or badge?","answerCount":1,"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Only if it comes from a certification scheme with third-party verification and publicly accessible conditions. Own-brand leaf icons and badges that imply official certification are prohibited. If you have one on packaging, that is an identity and print project, not a copy change, and it needs more lead time than the website does.","inLanguage":"en-US"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Question","@id":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/blog\/impact-branding-claims\/#faq-question-940015","position":6,"url":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/blog\/impact-branding-claims\/#faq-question-940015","name":"We have a net-zero commitment. Does it survive?","answerCount":1,"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Only with a detailed implementation plan that is public, has measurable time-bound targets, and is verified by an independent third-party expert whose findings are also public. A pledge without that behind it is prohibited as a future-performance claim.","inLanguage":"en-US"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Question","@id":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/blog\/impact-branding-claims\/#faq-question-940016","position":7,"url":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/blog\/impact-branding-claims\/#faq-question-940016","name":"Is this only relevant to consumer brands?","answerCount":1,"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"The directive amends consumer-protection law, so consumer-facing claims are the clearest exposure. But B2B companies in impact sectors are affected in two ways: their own consumer-facing communication, and their customers, who now need substantiated inputs to make their own claims. If you sell into a brand that has to comply, your evidence becomes part of their compliance.","inLanguage":"en-US"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Question","@id":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/blog\/impact-branding-claims\/#faq-question-940017","position":8,"url":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/blog\/impact-branding-claims\/#faq-question-940017","name":"How long does it take to fix a brand built on banned words?","answerCount":1,"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"A claims audit takes three to five days and tells you the scale. Rewriting affected copy is one to two weeks. A full repositioning, when the banned word was the positioning, is twelve to sixteen weeks \u2014 which is why the audit is worth doing now rather than in September.","inLanguage":"en-US"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Question","@id":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/blog\/impact-branding-claims\/#faq-question-940018","position":9,"url":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/blog\/impact-branding-claims\/#faq-question-940018","name":"Is this article legal advice?","answerCount":1,"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"No. It is written for founders and marketing leads and summarises publicly available regulatory analyses so you know which questions to ask. Transposition differs by member state, and whether a specific claim is compliant is a question for a lawyer.","inLanguage":"en-US"},"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/salago.design\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/salago-impact-branding-eu-claims-deadline-2026.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9162"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9182,"href":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9162\/revisions\/9182"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salago.design\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}