Greenwashing risk, what to say and not say (FTC Green Guides compliance)?

FTC Green Guides (2012, with a 2026 update in progress) require substantiation for every environmental claim. The high-risk traps:

• "Eco-friendly" / "green" / "sustainable" with no specifics, unsubstantiated. FTC has fined brands for this. Replace with specific claim: "made with 67% recycled polyester (GRS-certified)."
• "Biodegradable", must biodegrade in a "reasonably short period" (typically <1 year) in the disposal environment customers actually use. Plastic that biodegrades only in industrial composting facilities can’t be called "biodegradable" in a landfill context.
• "Compostable", must specify if home-compostable or industrial-compostable-only. BPI certification is the substantiation standard in the US.
• "Carbon neutral" / "climate positive", FTC requires disclosure of scope (Scope 1 only? 1+2? 1+2+3?) and offset vs reduction split. EU has banned "carbon neutral" without substantiation as of 2024.
• "Recycled" percentage, specific percentage required. "Made with recycled materials" without a percentage is FTC-actionable.

On Magento: I build a compliance attribute per claim (claim text + substantiation link + cert ID + last-verified-date). Marketing can’t publish a claim without filling in substantiation. Removes 90% of greenwashing risk by making the substantiation mandatory at attribute-set level.

EU Green Claims Directive (effective 2026) is stricter than FTC, requires independent third-party verification for environmental claims, with fines up to 4% of annual EU turnover. If you sell into the EU, this is the binding standard going forward.