Agefi Luxembourg - mai 2026

Mai 2026 17 AGEFI Luxembourg Économie & Banques T he European Union’s new Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Direc­ tive, Directive (EU) 2024/825, raises the legal bar for how businesses can talk about sustainability to consumers (1) . For any sustai­ nabilityrelated claims, vague green language, weak labels and broad “climate neutral” claims are becoming harder to defend. In Luxembourg, transposition of the direc­ tive is underway and is ex­ pected to apply from late September 2026 (2) . Aconsumer lawreformwith real consequences for sustainability claims The Empowering Consumers for the Green Tran­ sition Directive, often referred to as EmpCo, goes beyond environmentalmeasures to consumer pro­ tection, aimed at helping consumers make better­ informed choices in the green transitionby tackling misleading environmental claims, unreliable sus­ tainability labels andother practices that distort sus­ tainable purchasing decisions. It amends two core pieces of EU law, the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive and the Consumer Rights Directive, and applies to all companies marketing products or services to consumers in the EU, regardless of com­ pany size or location, including consumer goods sold in stores or online as well as services, digital content and digital services (1) . Consumerfacing financial marketing may also be affected where sustainability claims are used in communications. The directive is already in force at EU level and Member States had to transpose it by 27 March 2026 (3) with application starting from 27 September 2026. The framing matters: EmpCo does not regulate sus­ tainability as such. Instead, it regulates how sustain­ ability is communicated to consumers across a wide range of goods and services. The core question is no longerwhetheraclaimsoundsattractive,butwhether it is specific, credible and capable of substantiation under consumer law. The Commission’s published FAQ describes the directive as a strengthened hori­ zontal consumer protection safety net that applies across sectors coveredby the existingdirectives (4) . The scope is broadwhere consumermarketing is involved EmpCo is focused on businesstoconsumer com­ mercial practices. In practical terms, it captures ad­ vertising, packaging, websites, brand and product names, labels and other consumerfacing commu­ nications that suggest environmental benefits. The underlying challenge is clear: The European Com­ mission states that 53% of green claims provide vague,misleadingor unfounded information,while 40%have no supporting evidence (5) . TheCommissionFAQfurtherhighlightsthatmanda­ tory sustainability reporting, suchas reportingunder theCorporateSustainabilityReportingDirective,will nottypicallyfallwithinEmpCobecauseitisgenerally mandatory and addressed to investors. However, if statements taken from those reports are reused vol­ untarily in consumer advertising, they move into scope.Forlegal,compliance,risk,corporateaffairsand communications teams, that creates an important in­ terfacebetweenreportingcontentandmarketingcon­ tent. Any business using environmental language in consumerfacing communication needs to test whether those claims are framedwith enough preci­ sion and support. What changes inpractice The most visible change is the treatment of generic environmental claims. The directive is designed to counter broad statements such as “green”, “eco­ friendly” or similar wording when they are not backedby recognized environmental performance. Inotherwords, broadclaims becomedifficult touse unless the underlying performance is strong and well evidenced. EmpCo also targets claims that overstate the scope of apositive feature. Theproblemis familiar: abusi­ ness highlights one limited attribute and allows the consumer to read it as a claimabout thewholeprod­ uct, the whole brand or the whole business. Under the directive, this will be treated as a misleading practice. The same logic applies to irrelevant claims, where a business presents legal compliance or an immaterial feature as if it were a distinguishing en­ vironmental benefit. The direction clearly requires more targeted claims backed by evidence. A second major shift concerns offsetbased climate claims. Statements such as “carbon neutral” will be bannedwhere the result rests solelyonoffset­ ting rather than on actual emission reduc­ tions linked to the product or service itself. This is likely to affect businesses that have reliedonoffset language inconsumer com­ munications without separating opera­ tionaldecarbonizationfromcompensatory measures. A company may still talk about climate projects or offset pur­ chases,butitshouldavoidpresenting thoseactionsasiftheyerasethefoot­ printoftheproductbeingmarketed. Finally, the directive refers to sus­ tainability labels: only labels estab­ lished by public authorities or basedonacertificationschemethat meets defined credibility criteria are permitted. For businesses, this extends beyond packaging, also af­ fectingonline stores, campaignassets, product pages and other places where logos and trustmarks are oftenhighlighted. Future claims nowneed governance, not only ambition EmpCo also reshapes howbusinesses talk about fu­ ture environmental performance. Futureoriented claims such as “Net Zero by 2030” need to be sup­ ported by objective, publicly available and time­ bound commitments and should be backed by a realistic implementation plan and regular third­ party verification made accessible to consumers. This is a material shift for transition messaging. Commitments about future targets or performance can no longer be used as broad communication if the underlying plan is vague, underfunded or not independently reviewed. Thedirectivepushes gov­ ernance, sustainability and communications teams closer together. The Luxembourg position Luxembourg is in the process of bringing these rules into national law, with application expected from 27 September2026.Localtranspositionfollowsthesame two broad objectives as the directive itself. First, con­ sumers should receive clearer andmore harmonized information about guarantees, durability and re­ pairability. Second, businesses face stricter limits on misleading sustainability communication. For businesses in Luxembourg, the practical signifi­ canceislessaboutthelegislativemechanicsandmore about the change in expectations. Consumerfacing sustainabilitymessagingwillneedtobemoreprecise, better documented and more carefully governed. That includes not only advertising campaigns, but also website claims, labels, product descriptions and othermaterials that influence purchasingdecisions (6) . The directive itself does not designate a specific Lux­ embourg enforcement authority, referring instead to “competent national bodies”. In practice, this topic couldbeplacedwithintheremitoftheDirectoratefor Consumer Protection, which is responsible for trans­ posing EU consumer rules into national law and for monitoring consumer protectionmatters. What businesses shoulddo now The first step is to create a claims inventory. Compa­ niesshouldmapeveryenvironmentalstatementused in consumer communications, including short taglines,icons,labels,webcopy,packagingclaimsand products or subbrandnames that implyanenviron­ mental benefit. This exercise can be supported by technologyassisted review, including AI tools that help scan webpages, PDFs and other materials to identify statements that may require closer legal or compliance view. The aimis to identifywhere claims aregeneric,wheretheyoverreach,andwherethesup­ porting evidence does not cover the claim. The second step is substantiation. Each claim should be linked to a clear evidence base that explains what is being said, what data supports it, howcurrent that data is andwho has reviewed it. For future commit­ ments,thekeyquestioniswhetherthepublicmessage matches thematurity of the underlyingplan. Finally,businessesshouldreviewinternalcontrolsand potentially tighten internal signoff. EmpCo ensures thatsustainabilitymessaginggoesbeyondmarketing to shared responsibility with legal, compliance, sus­ tainability and communications functions. Themore concreteaclaim,themoreresilientitislikelytobespe­ cific, limited statements tied to verifiable facts, not broadpositioning language. Ashift fromimage to evidence These changespoint toabroader shift in themarket. The EU is moving sustainability communication away from impressionled messaging and toward substantiatedconsumer information. For businesses in Luxembourg, that means sustainability claims will need to be clearer, more grounded and sup­ portedby evidence that canwithstand scrutiny. The broader aim is to help consumers identify credible products and services and make more informed choices. By September 2026, the quality and credi­ bility of sustainability messaging may matter far more than its volume. VanessaMÜLLER, EYLuxembourgESGServicesand ConsultingBanking&CapitalMarketsLead AnnaILLARIONOVA, EYLuxembourgSeniorManager,ESGConsulting 1) EU Directive 2024/825 – Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition 2)Dossiersparlementaires|ChambredesDéputésduGrandDuchéde Luxembourg 3) While transposition is underway in many EU countries, including Luxembourg,asofnow,officialnationallegislationtransposingthedirec­ tivehasonlybeenpublished in fewcountries. 4)EuropeanCommissionFAQ 5)GreenclaimsEnvironmentEuropeanCommission 6)Dossiersparlementaires|ChambredesDéputésduGrandDuchéde Luxembourg Empowering consumers for transition: new rules for green claims L ors duBrussels Economic Forum2026, organisé le 7mai par laCommission euro­ péenne, le Premierministre luxem­ bourgeois Luc Frieden a plaidé en faveur d’une stratégie européenne ambitieuse enmatière d’intelli­ gence artificielle (IA). Dans undis­ cours intitulé «AnAI of Europe, by Europe, for Europe », le chef du gouvernement a exhorté l’Union européenne à devenir un acteur majeur de l’IA face aux ÉtatsUnis et à laChine. SelonLucFrieden,l’intelligenceartificielle représente bien davantage qu’une simple évolution technologique. Elle constitue une transformation profonde de l’écono­ mieetdelasociété,susceptibledemodifier durablement les méthodes de travail, de recherche, de production et d’innovation. Une IAalignée sur les valeurs européennes LePremierministre a insisté sur lanéces­ sité de développer une intelligence arti­ ficielle respectueuse des principes fon­ damentaux de l’Europe, notamment la démocratie, l’État de droit et la liberté d’expression. Il a notamment évoqué plusieurs domaines sensibles, comme le journalisme, les réseaux sociaux ou encore la recherche médicale, où l’utili­ sationde l’IAdoit rester encadréepardes règles éthiques claires. « Le progrès a besoin d’un sens », atil déclaré, souli­ gnant que les avancées technologiques ne doivent jamais se faire au détriment des valeurs humaines. LucFriedenaégalementrappeléquel’in­ telligence artificielle devait rester un outil au service des citoyens et non remplacer l’humain. Selon lui, la dignité humaine doit demeurer au cœur de la révolution numérique européenne. Souveraineté technologique et compétitivité Le dirigeant luxembourgeois a mis en garde contre une dépendance excessive envers les technologies étrangères. Il estime que l’Europe doit développer ses propres infrastructures, ses modèles d’IAet ses capacités de stockage de don­ nées afin de préserver sa souveraineté numérique. Sans prôner une « Europe forteresse », Luc Frieden a défendu l’idée de champions européens capables de rivaliser avec les grandes entreprises internationales dans le domaine de l’in­ telligence artificielle. Il a salué plusieurs entreprises euro­ péennes impliquées dans les projets de cloud souverain soutenus par les insti­ tutions européennes, parmi lesquelles OVHcloud, Mistral AI, Scaleway, Proximus ou encore Clever Cloud. Trois priorités pour l’Europe Dans son intervention, Luc Frieden a identifié trois conditions essentiellespour permettre à l’Europe de réussir dans la coursemondiale à l’IA: accélérerl’adoptiondel’intelligencearti­ ficielle par les entreprises et les adminis­ trations ; agir plus rapidement dans le dévelop­ pement et le déploiement des solutions technologiques ; mobiliser davantage de capitaux privés et publics pour financer l’innovation. LePremierministreaestiméquel’Europe souffrait encore d’une culture écono­ mique trop prudente, freinant les inves­ tissements dans les startup technolo­ giques. Il a notamment plaidé pour une meilleuremobilisationde l’épargneeuro­ péenne afin de financer les entreprises innovantes spécialisées dans l’IA. Le Luxembourg veut devenir une plateforme européenne de l’IA Luc Frieden a assuré que le Luxembourg souhaitaitjouerunrôlemoteurdanscette stratégie européenne. Il amis enavant les initiatives de son gouvernement pour encourager l’adoption rapide de l’intelli­ gence artificielle, soutenir les infrastruc­ turesnumériquesetfavoriserlesinvestis­ sements technologiques. Le chef du gouvernement a notamment rappelé que le Luxembourg avait conclu un contrat gouvernemental global avec Mistral AI, présenté comme un exemple de coopération technologique euro­ péenne à grande échelle. En conclusion, Luc Frieden a appelé les États membres à dépasser les logiques nationales pour construire une vision commune de l’intelligence artificielle. «Aucun pays ne peut gagner seul dans cette nouvelle ère de l’IA. Mais ensem­ ble, l’Europe le peut », atil affirmé devant les participants du forumécono­ mique européen. Source : ministère d’État (résumé du discours) Discours dʹouverture du Premier ministre au Brussels Economic Forum 2026 « Une IAeuropéenne, par l’Europe et pour l’Europe » ©ME