Cradle to Cradle Certified®

The Cradle to Cradle Certified® Product Standard (Full Scope) provides the framework to assess the circularity and sustainability performance of materials and products across five categories:

Cradle to Cradle Certified® Conformance with ISO 14024   

Cradle to Cradle Certified® is a Type 1 ecolabel, independently verified by the ANSI National Accreditation Board as conforming to ISO 14024. ISO 14024 specifies principles and requirements and provides guidance for ecolabelling programs and ecolabels, including transparent, science-based and multi-attribute criteria informed by life-cycle considerations, as well as independent assessment and certification of products against the applicable requirements. Find out more here.

Cradle to Cradle Certified® and EmpCo 

A major change has taken place in how the EU regulates sustainability claims and sustainability labels. The EU's Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive (EU) 2024/825 (EmpCo Directive) entered into force in March 2024 and is effective in all EU Member States on September 27, 2026.  

This is a welcome development to build greater trust in green claims. 

This update shares how Cradle to Cradle Certified is ready for EmpCo and how it helps those with C2C Certified® prepare for it, too. 

What is EmpCo? 

Regulating sustainability claims was already part of the effect the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (Directive 2005/29, in force since 2005) had. This Unfair Commercial Practices Directive has been amended by the EmpCo Directive, which was adopted in March 2024. EmpCo introduces clearer, stricter rules for sustainability claims and sustainability labels made both in in business-to-consumer (B2C) and in business to business (B2B) communications.  

EmpCo introduces several important shifts which apply differently depending on the B2B or B2C context that directly affect how companies are allowed to communicate sustainability, for example: 

• Generic environmental claims such as “ecofriendly”, “green”, or “environmentally friendly” are prohibited unless they are clearly specified in clear and prominent terms on the same medium or based on recognized excellent environmental performance (such as national or regional EN ISO 14024 Type I Labels officially recognized in the Member States). 

• Generic and broad terms such as ‘sustainable, ‘conscious’ and ‘responsible’ can be considered misleading, even when there is excellent environmental performance, because such claims relate to other characteristics in addition to environmental characteristics, such as social characteristics. The perception of individual claims always depends on the context and the concrete presentation. 

• Sustainability labels are restricted to those based on compliant certification schemes or established by public authorities. 

• Product-level climate neutrality or reduced impact claims based on carbon offsetting are no longer allowed.  

• Forward-looking environmental claims must be credible, transparent, supported by verifiable commitments, and verified by a third-party expert.  

In practice, this means companies must move away from broad sustainability messaging and toward precise, evidence-based communication that reflects actual product and/or company performance.  

Cradle to Cradle Certified® and EmpCo 

This is a major opportunity for Cradle to Cradle Certified to help companies continue to, and improve, how they communicate sustainability claims. Our certification scheme already had a head start when it comes to meeting EmpCo’s requirements and offers clear guidance to certification holders on how to make verified claims on the basis of certification achievements: 

• Our program is ISO/IEC 17065 accredited. 

  Given that ISO/IEC 17065 is not only already a central technical norm to ensure impartial and independent third-party verification, but also explicitly named as a technical norm to ensure EmpCo compliance in the directive’s recitals, we proactively submitted our application in January and received accreditation from the ANSI National Accreditation Board on September 1st of this year.  

• Cradle to Cradle Certified is as a Type 1 Ecolabel  

  Cradle to Cradle Certified® is a Type 1 ecolabel, independently verified by the ANSI National Accreditation Board as conforming to ISO 14024. ISO 14024 specifies principles and requirements and provides guidance for ecolabelling programs and ecolabels, including transparent, science-based and multi-attribute criteria informed by life-cycle considerations, as well as independent assessment and certification of products against the applicable requirements. Whereas ISO 14024 does not guarantee EmpCo compliance and has not been named as a norm for such purpose by the EU, we see it as an important aspect of the reliability and high quality of Cradle to Cradle Certified®. 

• We have updated our existing Green Claims Guidance to align with EmpCo requirements. 

  This guidance is designed to support companies in understanding the applicable rules and explains how Cradle to Cradle Certified® can support clear, credible, and substantiated communication to meet the requirements of EmpCo. You can find the Green Claims Guidance available here. Please note that our ISO 14024 compliance does not per se allow for generic environmental claims in the meaning of EmpCo. 

• We are expanding the scope of available verified information for certification holders and implemented a new Product Data Report. 

  In the context of our updated  Cradle to Cradle Certified® Product Standard (Version 5.0) and new digital certification platform, we are providing a new Product Data Report of third-party verified data as a tool for new certifications, and improving our product registry to provide more information on specific claimable product achievements for each category of the Product Standard. 

• We are constantly evaluating our organisation to ensure we are EmpCo-compliant  

  Even though our measures will ensure our EmpCo-compliance, we are observing the market and seeking multijurisdictional legal advice on the compliance of our program on a regular basis. Legal and market developments will always be considered to improve and show whether we can go even further to fine-tune our program for the application of EmpCo in all Member States. Rest assured that if there is a further need for adjustments, we will take the necessary steps.