EarthCheck
Report | April 2026

Good for Business. Good for the Planet.

Empowering Consumers Directive

What Europe's new rules
mean for your business

A guide to the Empowering Consumers Directive for Australian tourism operators, influencers, and destinations marketing to EU consumers.

Enforcement begins 27 September 2026

"If you make an environmental claim to a consumer, it must be specific, substantiated, and not misleading. Vague language that creates a positive environmental impression without evidence is no longer permitted."

2026

EarthCheck Advisory

Why this matters now

Europe has changed the rules.
Not tightened them. Changed them.

If you have ever described your business as "eco-friendly", "sustainable", or "green" in a brochure, on your website, or on a booking platform, you need to read this. The EU audited green claims across member countries and found the results damning.

The Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive was passed in February 2024. It is already law. From 27 September 2026, it applies to any business, anywhere in the world, that markets to consumers in EU countries. That includes you, if European travellers are part of your market.

>50%

of EU green claims were found to be vague or misleading when audited

~40%

had no supporting evidence at all. Consumers were paying a premium for a story that often was not true

27 Sep

2026 — the date enforcement begins. National transposition deadline was already 27 March 2026

of annual turnover in the relevant country — maximum fine under the directive

The directive explained

What the Empowering Consumers Directive actually requires

The core principle is straightforward: if you make an environmental claim to a consumer, it must be specific, substantiated, and not misleading. Vague language that creates a positive environmental impression without evidence to back it up is no longer permitted.

One detail worth understanding: the directive's definition of an 'environmental claim' is deliberately broad. It covers not just words but images, colours, logos, and brand names that create an environmental impression in a consumer's mind.

What used to happen	What the Empowering Consumers Directive requires from September 2026
"Eco-friendly" or "green" on your website	Must be specific: eco-friendly in what respect, measured how, evidenced by what?
Self-declared "sustainable" operator	Requires independent verification against a recognised, accredited scheme with an audit process
"Carbon neutral" based on offset purchases	Offsets alone are not sufficient. Must demonstrate actual emissions reduction
Your own green badge or sustainability logo	Only labels from recognised, accredited certification schemes are permitted
Vague future pledge: "working towards net zero"	Must have a specific, time-bound plan verified by an independent third party
Nature imagery combined with green language	Visual and written claims together can constitute a 'generic environmental claim' subject to the rules

The Australian connection

Australia's own regulator, the ACCC, has been watching closely. They have already issued greenwashing guidance and taken enforcement action against businesses making unsubstantiated environmental claims. The ACCC's position aligns directly with the EU approach: if you make a sustainability claim, you need to be able to prove it.

Scope and reach

Does this apply to me if I'm based in Australia?

If you market to European consumers, yes. The Empowering Consumers Directive applies to any business making claims to EU consumers, regardless of where that business is located. If a European traveller sees your sustainability claims when researching their trip, the rules apply.

Your website, if it can be accessed by EU consumers and contains sustainability language
Listings on Expedia, Booking.com, TripAdvisor, and other international booking platforms
Brochures distributed through international travel agents
Social media channels with international followers
Co-branded content with international tourism partners

Not sure if EU consumers find you?

If your booking data includes visitors from Germany, France, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Italy, or Spain, or if you work with any inbound tour operators serving those markets, you are in scope. When in doubt, assume you are.

🏨

Individual operators

Hotels, tour operators, experience providers, accommodation businesses. Any entity making sustainability claims to EU consumers is in scope, regardless of size or location.

🗺️

Regional Tourism Organisations

RTOs market destinations to consumers. If your campaigns include green or sustainability messaging reaching EU consumers, they must meet the same evidential standard as a claim from an individual operator.

🏛️

State Tourism Organisations

STOs and state government entities marketing to international audiences including European travellers are subject to the directive. Government entities are not exempt.

Practical steps

What to do now: your action checklist

September 2026 is not far away. Click each step to expand the detail.

Audit every sustainability or eco claim you are currently making

Go through your website, booking platform profiles, brochures, social media, and any co-branded tourism content. Write down every environmental or sustainability claim you make. Be thorough. Include imagery and visual elements that could create a green impression, not just text.

For each claim, ask: if a regulator in Europe asked me to prove this, could I?
What is the evidence? Who verified it? When was it last checked?
Check all channels: website, socials, booking platforms, print collateral, partner co-brand.

Replace vague language with specific, evidenced statements

Generic green language must go unless it can be substantiated. This is the most immediate action most operators need to take.

Instead of "eco-friendly", say what specific environmental practice or performance is being referred to and cite the evidence.
Instead of "sustainable operator", reference the certification or standard you are verified against.
Instead of "we care about the environment", describe what you do, measured and evidenced.
If you cannot make a claim specific and evidenced, remove it until you can.

Review your certifications and labels

Under the Empowering Consumers Directive, only sustainability labels from recognised, independently verified certification schemes are permitted. Check every label, badge, or logo you display.

Is it from a recognised certification scheme with independent third-party monitoring?
Is your certification current? When does it expire?
Have you created any in-house "green" badges or sustainability marks? These will need to be removed.
Self-assessment and in-house sustainability programmes, however genuine, are not sufficient on their own.

Take a hard look at any carbon or climate claims

Carbon claims are the highest-risk category under the Empowering Consumers Directive. The rules are explicit: you cannot claim carbon neutrality based on offset purchases alone.

What is required is evidence of actual emissions reduction.
Any claim about future climate performance must be backed by a specific, time-bound plan verified by an independent third party.
If your current carbon claims are based primarily on offset programmes, build an evidenced emissions reduction narrative or remove those claims until you can.

Know which national laws apply to your key markets

The Empowering Consumers Directive is not enforced at the EU level. It is enforced through each country's national transposition. The penalties, the regulator, and the specific test applied will differ between countries.

If Germany, France, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, or the UK are important source markets, it is worth understanding how each country has transposed the directive into national law.
Your industry body, legal adviser, or sustainability certification provider can assist with market-specific compliance guidance.

Compliance radar

Claims that are now high risk

These are the types of statements most likely to attract scrutiny under the Empowering Consumers Directive. If any of these appear in your current marketing, they need immediate review.

Claim type	Risk level	Why it's a problem
"Eco-friendly experience"	Very high	Banned as a generic claim unless backed by specific evidence of recognised excellent environmental performance
"Sustainable tourism operator"	Very high	Requires definition, evidence base, and independent verification against a recognised scheme
"Carbon neutral holiday"	Critical	Cannot be based on offsets alone. Requires actual lifecycle emissions reduction
"Low impact"	High	Must quantify and evidence the reduction. Impact compared to what, measured how?
"Green certified"	High	Must reference a recognised and accredited scheme. Self-certification is not sufficient
"We care about the environment"	Medium-high	Can constitute a claim if it creates an environmental impression without supporting evidence

Legal mechanics

Here's the technical: how EU law works

Understanding the structure of EU law helps you understand what you actually need to comply with and where.

What is a Directive?

The EU cannot pass a single law that automatically applies in every country. Instead, it issues Directives: instructions that every EU country must achieve a specific outcome, leaving each country to draft its own law. Think of it like the Australian federal government telling every state to introduce a food safety standard, but leaving each state to write its own Act.

What is transposition?

Once a Directive is issued, transposition is the process of a country turning it into national law. The transposition deadline for the Empowering Consumers Directive was 27 March 2026. EU countries were required to have national laws updated by that date. Those laws then apply to businesses from 27 September 2026.

Why it matters for you

It is each country's transposed national law, not the Directive itself, that a business gets prosecuted under. If Germany, France, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, or the UK are your key source markets, those are the national laws worth reviewing. Your inbound tour operators and legal advisers are a good first port of call.

What about the Green Claims Directive?

You may have heard about the Green Claims Directive. It would go further, requiring businesses to have environmental claims pre-verified by an accredited body before making them publicly. It has not been finalised and is not expected to apply until 2028 at the earliest. The Empowering Consumers Directive is the law you need to comply with right now. Getting Empowering Consumers Directive-ready now is the right move regardless of what comes next.

What happens if you get it wrong

Penalties and enforcement

The EU has modelled the Empowering Consumers Directive's enforcement approach on its data privacy rules, the GDPR, which signals the seriousness of intent. The directive sets a minimum standard for penalties, and individual countries may set higher penalties in their national transpositions.

💸

Financial fines

Up to 4% of annual turnover in the relevant country

📢

Mandatory withdrawal

Mandatory removal of claims from all marketing materials

🚫

Procurement exclusion

Exclusion from public procurement and government-contracted tourism programmes

📣

Corrective statements

Mandatory corrective statements published to consumers

📉

Reputational damage

Loss of consumer trust in key European markets

The ACCC parallel

Australia's ACCC has made greenwashing a stated enforcement priority. They have published formal guidance, issued public warnings, and commenced proceedings against businesses making unsubstantiated environmental claims. The risk to Australian operators is not hypothetical or distant. It is active and domestic. EU enforcement from September adds an international dimension to the same exposure.

Tourism Australia initiative

Green is Our Gold and now it needs to be proven

Tourism Australia's Green is Our Gold initiative is built on a simple truth: Australia's natural environment is our greatest competitive advantage. Visitors come for the Great Barrier Reef, the outback, the wildlife. Our exceptional natural landscapes are, quite literally, our gold.

As part of it, Tourism Australia developed practical resources to help businesses and destinations tell their sustainability story well, including storytelling guides that show operators how to communicate environmental credentials in a way that is credible, specific, and compelling to international travellers. EarthCheck helped write those guides.

Operators who have genuinely invested in sustainable practice, who have the data, the operational evidence, and the verified certification, are in a much stronger position than those who have simply used feel-good language. The Empowering Consumers Directive makes this distinction legally consequential.

Download sustainability storytelling guide Visit tourism.australia.com

Use the Green is Our Gold resources

Tourism Australia's Green is Our Gold platform includes storytelling guides for businesses and destinations, practical resources that help you communicate what you actually do in a way that resonates with international travellers and holds up to scrutiny. With the Empowering Consumers Directive coming into effect, these guides are more relevant than ever.