Gera Tools

Greenwashing Risk Scorer

Score your sustainability claims for greenwashing risk under the EU Green Claims Directive

Evaluate an environmental marketing claim against the proposed EU Green Claims Directive substantiation rules — scientific evidence, life-cycle scope, third-party verification, trade-off disclosure, and time-bound commitments — to get a greenwashing risk score from 0 to 100 with remediation steps. Runs in your browser. It runs free in your browser on Gera Tools, with nothing uploaded.

Last updated Source: Gera Tools

What is the EU Green Claims Directive?

It is a proposed EU rule requiring that explicit voluntary environmental claims be substantiated with scientific evidence, life-cycle assessed, independently verified before use, and clearly communicated. It works alongside the Empowering Consumers Directive, which bans vague claims and self-made labels.

Regulators and consumers are clamping down on unsubstantiated green marketing. This scorer runs your environmental claim through the substantiation principles of the proposed EU Green Claims and Empowering Consumers directives and returns a greenwashing risk score so you can fix problems before they reach the public.

The regulatory landscape behind this tool

Two EU regulatory instruments are reshaping environmental marketing in Europe:

The Empowering Consumers Directive (ECD), which amended the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, banned generic environmental claims that cannot be proven (“sustainable”, “eco-friendly”, “green”, “natural”) and labelled them automatically misleading. It also banned self-made sustainability labels without third-party verification or official approval.

The Green Claims Directive (GCD), still advancing through the legislative process, goes further: it requires that any explicit environmental claim be substantiated by a scientific study covering the relevant life-cycle stages, verified by an accredited third party before publication, and communicated in a clear, complete way that discloses trade-offs. Claims about future environmental commitments must be backed by a concrete, time-bound action plan.

Together they mean that any company making green claims about products sold into the EU market needs to audit those claims systematically — which is what this scorer helps with.

How it works

Each answer maps to a substantiation rule and carries a weight reflecting how serious that failure is. Risky answers accumulate into a score:

risk weight = sum of weights of risky answers
risk score  = risk weight / max weight × 100

The heaviest weights sit on the non-negotiables: missing scientific evidence, ignoring the full life cycle, lacking independent verification, and claiming neutrality through offsetting. Lighter weights cover clarity issues such as vague wording, undisclosed trade-offs, and uncertified labels.

Worked example: a “carbon neutral” packaging claim

Imagine a company claims its packaging is “carbon neutral.” Running through the scorer:

  • Is the claim backed by a recognised scientific study? Possibly — if they commissioned a carbon footprint study, yes; if they just bought offsets, probably no.
  • Does the evidence cover the full life cycle (raw materials, manufacturing, use, end-of-life)? Often not — many footprint studies stop at manufacturing.
  • Is the claim verified by an independent third party before use? If the only verification is the offset certificate itself, this scores as missing.
  • Does neutrality rest mainly on offsets? Yes — the GCD treats this as high risk.
  • Is the claim specific, or is “neutral” a blanket descriptor? “Neutral” is generic.

This combination of answers produces a high risk score and prioritises three gaps: conduct a cradle-to-grave LCA, obtain independent pre-publication verification, and replace “carbon neutral” with a specific, honest statement about the residual footprint and how it is being addressed.

Notes

Treat the result as a prioritisation aid, not a legal clearance, and route any material claim through proper review before it is published. The directive timelines and exact requirements are still being finalised at EU level, so check the current state of the legislation before making compliance decisions.