Green Claims Checker: EU Greenwashing Ban & FTC

Green Claims Checker scans product descriptions, ad copy and packaging text for greenwashing risk under the EU ban on generic environmental claims (Directive (EU) 2024/825, applying from 27 September 2026), the US FTC Green Guides (16 CFR Part 260) plus key California rules, and the UK CMA Green Claims Code. Each finding comes with the exact quote, a risk level per jurisdiction, a link to the rule and a suggested fix. Click Start with the prefilled example to check three product texts in a few seconds.

Wording pre-check only. Not legal advice and not a compliance determination. The tool flags wording that the public rules listed below treat as risky. It cannot see your evidence, certificates or lifecycle data, and it never says a text is "compliant". Have flagged claims reviewed by someone qualified before you publish or change packaging.

What does the Green Claims Checker do?

• ✅ Flags generic environmental claims like "eco-friendly", "green", "planet-friendly", "sustainable" and "environmentally friendly". In the EU these are banned from 27 Sep 2026 unless you can show recognised excellent environmental performance. The risk drops to low when a concrete specification (for example "70% recycled polyester") or a recognised label sits in the same sentence.
• ✅ Flags carbon neutral, climate neutral, CO2-compensated and climate positive claims. When offsets are mentioned, the EU risk is high: product claims based on offsetting are banned outright.
• ✅ Flags future claims such as "net zero by 2030" with no visible plan, whole-brand claims ("we are a sustainable brand"), home-made sustainability labels, and legal requirements sold as a feature.
• ✅ Flags recyclable, recycled content, biodegradable, compostable, oxo-degradable, non-toxic and renewable wording that needs qualification under the FTC Green Guides. It also notes California rules (SB 343 recyclability labels, PRC 42357 ban on "biodegradable" for plastics).
• ✅ Ignores common false friends: green tea, forest green, sustainable weight loss, eco mode, pH neutral, gender neutral, plant-based and more.
• ✅ Takes plain texts, product objects, or a whole Apify dataset (for example a Shopify, Amazon or Etsy scraper's output). Title, description, bullet and HTML body fields are found automatically and HTML is stripped.

Risk levels: high, medium, low, none overall, plus riskByJurisdiction for eu, us and uk.

Who is it for?

• E-commerce brands and marketplace sellers selling into the EU who need to clean up catalog copy for the 27 Sep 2026 ban.
• Marketing and content teams checking ads, landing pages and emails before launch.
• Agencies and compliance consultants who want a fast, repeatable first pass over thousands of SKUs, with rule links in the file.
• Packaging and sustainability teams reviewing recyclable, compostable and carbon claims.

How to check product copy for greenwashing

1. Click Start with the prefilled example to see the output.
2. Paste your own copy into Texts to check (one text per line item), or add Items with your own IDs.
3. Or pick an Apify dataset from a product scraper. Leave Text fields empty to auto-detect title, description and bullets.
4. Choose the jurisdictions (EU, US, UK) and, if you like, turn on Only flagged to keep just the risky rows.
5. Download as JSON, CSV or Excel and work through the rows sorted by riskLevel.

Input example

{
  "texts": [
    "Our eco-friendly water bottle is 100% carbon neutral thanks to certified offset projects. Fully recyclable!",
    "Made with 70% recycled polyester (GRS certified). Packaging: 100% recycled cardboard.",
    "Bamboo toothbrush with a biodegradable handle. Green tea flavour toothpaste included."
  ],
  "jurisdictions": ["eu", "us", "uk"],
  "minSeverity": "low",
  "onlyFlagged": false
}

Output example

Real output from the prefill run on 2026-10-23 (shortened; every finding has full references and a suggestion):

[
  {
    "itemNo": 1,
    "ref": null,
    "textPreview": "Our eco-friendly water bottle is 100% carbon neutral thanks to certified offset projects. Fully recyclable!",
    "fieldsChecked": [
      "text"
    ],
    "riskLevel": "high",
    "riskByJurisdiction": {
      "eu": "high",
      "us": "medium",
      "uk": "medium"
    },
    "claimCount": 3,
    "issues": [
      {
        "ruleId": "offset_based_neutrality",
        "category": "Carbon / climate neutral or positive claim",
        "severity": "high",
        "severityByJurisdiction": {
          "eu": "high",
          "us": "medium",
          "uk": "medium"
        },
        "field": "text",
        "quote": "carbon neutral",
        "context": "Our eco-friendly water bottle is 100% carbon neutral thanks to certified offset projects.",
        "specificationFound": null,
        "note": "Mentions offsetting/compensation ('offset'). In the EU, neutral/reduced/positive GHG-impact claims based on offsetting are banned in all circumstances from 27 Sep 2026.",
        "references": [
          {
            "jurisdiction": "eu",
            "title": "Directive (EU) 2024/825, Annex point 4c: claims based on GHG offsetting that a product has a neutral, reduced or positive impact",
            "url": "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2024/825/oj"
          },
          {
            "jurisdiction": "eu",
            "title": "European Commission ECGT Directive FAQ",
            "url": "https://commission.europa.eu/document/download/3c257883-bb2a-4dd9-a6dc-501d587bb34f_en"
          },
          {
            "jurisdiction": "us",
            "title": "FTC Green Guides 16 CFR 260.5 (carbon offsets); California AB 1305 (voluntary carbon market disclosures)",
            "url": "https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-16/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-260/section-260.5"
          },
          {
            "jurisdiction": "us",
            "title": "California AB 1305 bill text",
            "url": "https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1305"
          },
          {
            "jurisdiction": "uk",
            "title": "CMA Green Claims Code (claims must be truthful, accurate, clear and substantiated)",
            "url": "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/green-claims-code-making-environmental-claims"
          }
        ],
        "suggestion": "Replace with a specific, evidenced statement about actual reductions (e.g. 'production emissions cut 32% vs 2022, verified by X'). Describe any offset funding separately, never as making the product neutral."
      },
      {
        "...": "2 more findings (generic_environmental_claim: 'eco-friendly' (high), recyclable: 'Fully recyclable' (medium))"
      }
    ],
    "jurisdictionsChecked": [
      "eu",
      "us",
      "uk"
    ],
    "checkedAt": "2026-10-23T18:14:30+00:00",
    "disclaimer": "Automated wording pre-check based on public rules (EU Direct..."
  },
  {
    "itemNo": 2,
    "textPreview": "Made with 70% recycled polyester (GRS certified). Packaging: 100% recycled cardboard.",
    "riskLevel": "none",
    "claimCount": 0,
    "issues": []
  },
  {
    "itemNo": 3,
    "textPreview": "Bamboo toothbrush with a biodegradable handle. Green tea flavour toothpaste included.",
    "riskLevel": "medium",
    "riskByJurisdiction": {
      "eu": "medium",
      "us": "medium",
      "uk": "medium"
    },
    "claimCount": 1,
    "issues": [
      {
        "ruleId": "biodegradable",
        "severity": "medium",
        "quote": "biodegradable",
        "severityByJurisdiction": {
          "eu": "medium",
          "us": "medium",
          "uk": "medium"
        },
        "suggestion": "State the conditions and timeframe with a test standard (e.g. 'biodegrades in industrial composting within 12 weeks, EN 13432'), or drop the claim. Landfilled items rarely qualify under FTC rules."
      }
    ]
  }
]

How much does it cost to check product copy?

Pay per result: $0.008 per text or product checked, plus a $0.00005 start fee per run and small Apify platform usage paid by you (the 3-text prefill run used about $0.0001 of platform usage). 100 products cost about $0.80 and 1,000 products about $8.00, plus platform usage. Turn on Only flagged to save only risky rows, and cap spend with the maximum cost per run setting.

Use it through the API, integrations or AI agents

• Run and get results in one call: https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/ultimatemc~green-claims-checker/run-sync-get-dataset-items
• MCP for AI agents: https://mcp.apify.com?tools=ultimatemc/green-claims-checker
• Schedule it on your catalog, add a webhook, or chain it after a product scraper and pass that run's dataset ID.

Rules and sources

Checked against these public texts on 2026-10-23:

• Directive (EU) 2024/825 (Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition): Annex I points 2a (unofficial sustainability labels), 4a (generic claims), 4b (whole-product claims about one aspect), 4c (offset-based neutrality), 10a (legal requirements as a feature), and Article 6(2)(d) on future performance. Applies from 27 Sep 2026.
• European Commission ECGT FAQ.
• FTC Green Guides, 16 CFR Part 260: general claims, carbon offsets, certifications, compostable, degradable, non-toxic, recyclable, recycled content, renewable.
• California: SB 343 recyclability labeling (applies to products made from 4 Oct 2026; a court order of 14 Jul 2026 limits Attorney General enforcement), Public Resources Code 42357 (no "biodegradable" on plastic products), AB 1305 (carbon-neutral claim disclosures).
• UK CMA Green Claims Code.
• EU Single-Use Plastics Directive 2019/904 (oxo-degradable plastics).

How the checking works

The text is split into sentences and matched against a fixed rule set with exclusions for false friends. Each rule has a severity per jurisdiction. Severity goes up when a claim is unqualified or tied to offsets, and down when the same sentence has a specific figure (a percentage, a CO2 quantity, a "compared to" baseline) or names a recognised label such as EU Ecolabel, Nordic Swan, Blue Angel, FSC, GOTS, GRS, Cradle to Cradle or B Corp. "100% green" or "100% carbon neutral" does not count as a specification. No AI and no external calls, so the same input always gives the same output.

FAQ

Does "none" mean my text is compliant?

No. It means none of the rule patterns matched. Specific claims still need evidence, and rules outside this list (sector rules, national laws, the proposed EU Green Claims Directive) are not checked.

Is "carbon neutral" always banned?

In the EU, product claims of neutral, reduced or positive climate impact based on offsetting are banned from 27 Sep 2026. Claims based on your own verified reductions are not covered by that ban, but are still flagged for review. In the US and UK they need clear substantiation and disclosure.

Can it read images or packaging artwork?

No. Give it text: product copy, ad text, OCR output or alt text.

Which languages are supported?

English wording only for now.

Is it AI?

No. Deterministic rules, so results are repeatable and auditable.

Limitations

• English only; claims in images, video or other languages are not seen.
• It checks wording, not evidence. A flagged claim may be fine if you hold the right proof, and an unflagged one may still mislead.
• Recognised-label detection is name-based; it cannot verify that you hold the certificate.
• Rules and court orders change; check the dates in the sources section.

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Missed claim or false alarm? Open an issue on the Issues tab with the text, and we'll review the rule.