WorkflowESG & Sustainability Reporting

Green Claims Substantiation

Green claims compliance that ties every claim to its proof and each market's rules, before it is printed

Every green claim tied to its proof and each market's rules, before it is printed.

See one case, screen by screen ↓
demo8claimsboxed on one label, 2 of them implied — a leaf-and-globe and a home-made seal
demo412,000unitsalready on shelf with a claim banned since 27 Sep, found from the stock system
target100%of packs and paid ads checked against each market's rules before print
target2daysfrom submission to Legal sign-off, from 9 working days
In short

What is Green Claims Substantiation?

Green claims compliance software that checks marketing and label environmental claims against evidence before publication. Seven agents box every claim on a label, ad or page — written or implied — judge it by each market's rules, match it to the study or certificate that proves it, check the evidence covers what the claim says and propose wording. The compliance lead decides each change and Legal signs before print.

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Updated

The problem

Why green claims slip through to the printer

Every label, ad, product page and delivery offer can carry an environmental claim: “eco-friendly”, “50% recycled”, “carbon neutral shipping”, a leaf, a globe, a seal the brand made itself. Since 27 September 2026 Directive (EU) 2024/825 applies in every member state: generic claims without recognised excellent environmental performance, neutrality claims based on offsets, whole-product claims true only of a part and sustainability labels not based on a certification scheme are banned. France already bans “biodégradable” on packaging. The burden of proof sits with the brand.

Today the marketing compliance lead checks artwork by eye days before print, chases evidence from sustainability and suppliers by email, and forwards it to a lawyer with a queue. The “eco-friendly” on the front gets caught. The leaf behind the logo, the certificate that covers the bottle but not the cap, the French panel and the old label still on shelf do not.

typical53%of environmental claims examined in a European Commission study were vague, misleading or unfounded
typical40%of environmental claims examined in the same study were unsubstantiated
Where a label's working days go before Legal signsestimated
By hand9 days
With the solution2 days
  • Finding every claim on the artwork, by eye1.5 → 0.1 d
  • Chasing studies, certificates and supplier declarations3 → 0.5 d
  • Reading each market's rules against each claim1 → 0.1 d
  • Rewording in every language and agency rounds1.5 → 0.3 d
  • Waiting in Legal's queue and signing2 → 1 d

Estimated split against a 9-working-day median from submission to Legal sign-off, by hand and with the solution.

How it works

How a label gets to print

Seven agents find every claim, written or implied, judge it by market, match its proof and reword it; Legal signs.

What comes in
Artwork and evidencefrom the design tool · labels, ads, pages, copy; studies and certificates
Agents at work
Intake agentmarkets and deadline
Then
Spotter agentwritten and implied claims
Then
Rules agentverdict per market
Evidence agentproof and its scope
Then
Rewriter agentwording in 4 languages
Consumer-view agentreads it as a shopper
A person decides
Compliance lead and Legaldecide each change, sign before print
What comes out
Signed label to print
Live claim register
Shelf fix plan
One case, step by step

One label, from the design tool to a signed print

Kestrel & Vane Group's Verdell brand sends ART-4471, the Verdell Citrus Surface Cleaner 750 ml EU label v3, for Germany, France, the Netherlands and Ireland. Legal sign-off is due Wed 21 Oct; the printer slot is Mon 26 Oct, for 1,200,000 labels. Here is what happens next, screen by screen, in the working solution.

  1. 01Thursday morning

    The agents worked overnight; the conversation starts there

    Elin Sandvik · Marketing Compliance Lead

    Elin's home screen shows 6 items that need her, 214 claims flagged since 27 Sep — 61 banned, 153 needing evidence, of 1,026 checked — 412,000 units on shelf with a banned claim and 31 live claims whose evidence expires within 60 days. Beside it, the agents talk to her in plain words, each answer citing its source.

    Register agent: “Six items need you; the Verdell label is the one with a printer slot (Mon 26 Oct). Its old version is still on shelf with two banned claims.”

  2. 02She asks

    “Where are we most exposed?”

    Rules agent

    Elin asks in her own words. The Rules agent answers: stock on shelf. 412,000 units carry claims banned since 27 Sep, and Legal reads the directive as giving no sell-off period. It cites the stock data and Legal's memo, and offers to open the recall view.

  3. 0316:41 to 16:49 the day before

    Eight claims boxed on the label, two of them pictures

    The agents

    Brightfold Studio pushed the label from the design tool. The Intake agent recorded four markets and the printer slot; the Spotter agent boxed 8 claims — 6 written, the leaf-and-globe behind the brand name and the “GreenLeaf Choice” seal. The Rules agent judged each by market, the Evidence agent matched 6 claims to 8 documents and the Rewriter proposed 7 changes in 4 languages. Across the four markets: 4 banned, 2 need evidence, 2 substantiated.

    Spotter agent: “Two are not words: the leaf-and-globe behind the brand name and the GreenLeaf Choice seal. Shoppers read both as ‘good for the planet’.”

  4. 04Box C2

    “50% recycled plastic” — true of the bottle, not the pack

    Evidence agent

    Certificate RC-2291 covers the PET bottle body. The bill of materials shows the bottle body at 50% recycled (19.0 of 38.0 g) and the spray cap virgin PP (21.5 g): the whole pack is 19.0 of 59.5 g, 31.9%. A true fact is a misleading claim when it is shown as the whole, so the verdict is Needs evidence in all four markets. The Rewriter proposes “Bottle made with 50% recycled plastic (cap excluded)” — 52 of 56 characters, so it fits the panel.

    Scope check: “Evidence does not cover the claim.”

  5. 05Switch to France

    The same box turns banned in one market

    Rules agent

    Elin switches the market to France and the artwork shows the French panel. “Formule biodégradable” is backed by lab report T-5512 — OECD 301B, 78% in 28 days, 10-day window met — and is substantiated in Germany, the Netherlands and Ireland as “Readily biodegradable formula (OECD 301B)”. In France it is banned: French law bans the word on packaging even with a test behind it.

  6. 06Box C5

    The agents disagree, and a person decides

    Rules agent and Consumer-view agent

    The Rules agent passed “Refill pouch: 70% less plastic”: LCA-0417 shows 71.1% less plastic than the 750 ml bottle. The Consumer-view agent reads the pack as a shopper would and objects: “70% less” reads as a comparison with other brands, and company policy CP-04 §5.1 asks for the basis on the same panel. Neither wins on its own. Elin adds the comparison basis: “Refill pouch uses 70% less plastic than our 750 ml bottle”.

    “The agents disagree: you decide.”

  7. 07The brand pushes back

    “Can we keep the leaf? It's our logo on every Verdell pack.”

    Jonah Pereira · Brand Manager, Verdell

    Jonah's question lands in the same conversation. Elin asks the agents whether he can keep it. The Consumer-view agent answers that he can, if the globe goes: a lemon leaf next to a citrus cleaner reads as an ingredient; a leaf wrapped round a globe reads as “good for the planet”. It opens claim C7 for her.

    Consumer-view agent: “Yes, if the globe goes. I opened C7: use Edit to keep the leaf and drop the globe.”

  8. 08Her decisions

    Every change decided, each with a reason

    Elin Sandvik · Marketing Compliance Lead

    Elin edits C7 to the narrower change — keep the lemon leaf, drop the globe — with reason code EDIT-SCOPE, “Approved with a narrower change”. She approves the remaining changes as proposed with CHG-OK, and the C5 qualifier stands as RISK-OK. Nothing on the artwork changes until she decides, and every decision goes to the audit trail with its reason and sources.

    “The decision, its reason and the sources are kept on the audit trail.”

  9. 09Thu 15 Oct, 11:20

    Legal signs claim by claim, six days early

    Marta Ruiz · Legal Counsel, Consumer & Marketing

    Marta opens the sign-off file: every claim as submitted, its verdict, Elin's decision with its reason code, the wording to be printed and the proof behind it, and the checks before signature. She signs with SUB-OK, “All claims substantiated or changed”. The annotations go back to Brightfold Studio as 7 tracked comments for Leo Hart, 6 approved wordings enter the claim register, and the print lock is released for Aldermoor Print, Mon 26 Oct.

    “Print lock holds until Legal signs.”

  10. 10And the old label

    Packs on shelf fixed for a sticker, not a reprint

    Register agent

    Label v2 of the same cleaner is on 268,000 units with “Carbon neutral shipping” and “Eco-friendly formula”. With two other products that makes 3 products and 412,000 units in Germany, France, the Netherlands and Ireland. The Register agent costs each fix — over-sticker, reprint and relabel, or withdraw — and recommends a sticker: about €61,800 in all, against about €185,400 to reprint. Each plan goes to the Brand Manager and Legal.

    “Why not sell through the old stock?” — “The directive gives no sell-off period; Legal's memo LM-2026-14 says products on shelf must not carry a banned claim.”

Who it’s for

Built for everyone who stands behind a claim.

The same label, seen by four of the people who carry it — what their week looked like, and what it looks like now.

ES
Elin SandvikMarketing Compliance Lead · decides every change
Marketing Compliance Lead
Before
Checks 20 to 30 submissions a week from five brands by eye, chases evidence by email, and forwards it all to Legal days before print.
Now
Opens each label with every claim already boxed, judged by market and matched to its proof; spends her time on the calls only a person should make.
MR
Marta RuizLegal Counsel, Consumer & Marketing · signs before print
Legal Counsel
Before
Reads 40-page life-cycle studies to answer one sentence, and is the person a regulator will ask.
Now
Signs from one file: the claim, the rule, the evidence and the sentence that proves it, with every decision and its reason.
JP
Jonah PereiraBrand Manager, Verdell · owns the printer slot
Brand Manager
Before
Hears what he can't say a few days before the printer slot, and loses claims that sell.
Now
Gets wording he can print for every banned claim, with its proof, and a straight answer to his questions in the same conversation.
SL
Sofia LindqvistSustainability Analyst · owns the evidence library
Sustainability Analyst
Before
Owns the studies, certificates and supplier declarations, but nobody asks her whether the certificate covers the cap.
Now
Sees what each document proves and until when; the agents ask her when a match is unsure or a renewal is due.
Built on the engine

7 agents. Each with one job, and hard limits.

Seven agents find every claim, written or implied, judge it by market, match its proof and reword it; Legal signs.

Intake agent

Pulls new or changed artwork, ads, pages and copy from the design tool, artwork system and asset library, and records markets, languages, channel, deadline and printer slot.

  • Never edits artwork
  • Never publishes
Spotter agent

Finds every environmental claim, written or implied — text in every language, symbols, imagery, seals and colour fields — and boxes it on the artwork.

  • Never judges legality
  • Below the confidence floor, a person confirms the box
Rules agent

Applies each market's rules and company policy to each claim — the EU ban list, French law, the UK Green Claims Code, the US Green Guides — and cites the passage.

  • Never gives legal advice; states the rule and its passage
  • Legal decides
Evidence agent

Matches each claim to life-cycle studies, certificates, lab reports, supplier declarations and offset records, and checks scope: part or whole, period, region and validity.

  • Never accepts expired or out-of-scope evidence
  • Never creates evidence; below the match floor, the sustainability analyst confirms
Rewriter agent

Proposes wording in each language that fits the panel, with the evidence that makes it true.

  • Proposes only; never writes to the artwork
Consumer-view agent

Reads the artwork as the average consumer would, challenges the other agents' verdicts and wording, and raises a disagreement when it reads a claim differently.

  • Did not draft and cannot approve
  • A disagreement always goes to a person
Register agent

Keeps the claim register live, watches evidence expiry and rule changes, finds the artworks and units in market that carry an affected claim, and costs the fixes.

  • Never withdraws, recalls or relabels
  • Proposes a plan for the Brand Manager and Legal to approve
Marketing compliance lead, with Legal counsel

Approves each change with a reason; Legal signs before print. The agents propose; a named person decides.

Ask in plain words

Ask the agents, in plain words

Ask about any label, claim, market or pack on shelf — or tell the agents what to change. Every answer cites the rule or the document behind it.

Where are we most exposed?

Stock on shelf. 412,000 units carry claims banned since 27 Sep, and Legal reads the directive as giving no sell-off period. In the EU, the maximum fine for widespread breaches must be at least 4% of annual turnover in the countries concerned.

Why is the seal banned?

“GreenLeaf Choice” is our own mark. Since 27 Sep a sustainability label must rest on a certification scheme with independent monitoring, or be set up by a public authority. It has neither, so it is banned in all four markets. Removing it costs nothing at this stage: the artwork is not yet printed.

What changes for France?

Two things. “Formule biodégradable” must go: French law bans the word on packaging even with a test behind it. And the Triman logo with sorting information must stay; it is present.

Can we say net zero by 2040?

Not yet. A claim about future performance needs a detailed, public implementation plan, verified by an independent expert. TP-2030 has the targets but its verification is planned for Q1 2027. Hold the line until then; the electric-van claim can run now.

Every screen

The working solution, as it ships.

13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.

TodayWhat needs the compliance lead, claims flagged since 27 Sep, units on shelf with a banned claim, evidence expiring — and the agents' conversation.
Ask in plain words“Where are we most exposed?” answered by the Rules agent, with its sources and a way into the recall view.
Every claim boxed on the labelFront and back panels with 8 claims boxed, written and implied, each with its verdict, and what each agent did.
Evidence and its scopeHow a shopper reads the claim, the rule, the evidence, the scope check with its arithmetic and the proposed wording in four languages.
One artwork, every marketSwitched to France: the French panel, and “Formule biodégradable” banned there while substantiated elsewhere.
The agents disagreeThe Rules agent and the Consumer-view agent on one claim, both arguments with sources, and the choice left to a person.
The conversation on the labelThe claims on the label with their proposed changes, and the brand manager's question answered by the agents.
Decide with a reasonEdit a proposed change and pick its reason code; the decision and its sources go to the audit trail.
Legal sign-offClaim by claim: as submitted, verdict, decision, wording to print and proof, with the checks before signature.
Signed, and the print lock releasedLegal's signature with its reason, annotations back in the design tool, wordings in the register and the printer released.
Label recall riskPacks on shelf with a banned claim: units and locations, and each fix — sticker, reprint or withdraw — with its cost and time.
Claim registerEvery approved wording with its evidence, markets, expiry and where it is used, kept live by the Register agent.
Rules by marketThe rules the agents apply in each market and company policy, with the passage, the date it applies from and what changed.
Governance

Built for the burden of proof: cited, decided, signed.

Every verdict cites its rule and its proofEach verdict cites the rule passage; each claim cites the evidence passage; each proposed wording cites the evidence that makes it true. One click opens the sentence.
Scope checked, not just evidence foundThe claim says one thing and the evidence covers another: the scope check shows both, with the arithmetic — bottle body 50%, whole pack 31.9%.
Disagreements go to a personThe Consumer-view agent did not draft and cannot approve. When it reads a claim differently from the Rules agent, both arguments and their sources go to a named person.
Every change decided with a reasonThe compliance lead approves, edits or rejects each change with a reason code; a rejection needs a note. Nothing changes on the artwork until she decides.
Legal signs, or nothing printsLegal signs each pack with a reason code. The print lock holds until that signature, and the agents never change artwork, publish, print, withdraw or relabel.
Every step on the audit trailEvery agent step and every human decision is recorded with who, when, the reason and the item. Nothing is edited or deleted, and an evidence pack exports per artwork or period.
Configuration

Your markets and your policy, not ours

The rules the agents apply are shown market by market with the passage they cite. Company policy sits on top and can be stricter than the law. Rules are versioned; a change re-checks the claim register.

SettingDefaultChoose from
Markets switched on10 markets: DE, FR, NL, IE, UK, US, ES, IT, PL, SEEach market on or off; the Rules agent re-checks open items
Company policyCP-04 v3: no neutrality claims in any marketCompany rules on or off; approved by the Head of Legal and logged
Spotter confidence floor0.800.50 to 0.99; below it, a person confirms the box before the claim is judged
Evidence auto-match floor0.900.50 to 0.99; below it, the sustainability analyst confirms the match
Evidence expiry warning60 days30 · 60 · 90 days
Print lockOnOn · Off — no artwork is released to a printer without Legal's signature
Packaging approval routeCompliance → Legal · two-person sign over 1,500,000 labelsCompliance → Legal · Compliance only · Compliance → Legal → Head of Legal
Organic social approval routeCompliance only, unless a banned or future claim is foundCompliance → Legal · Compliance only · Compliance → Legal → Head of Legal
Connections

Works with the systems your claims already live in

Design toolartwork pushed for checking; annotations returned as tracked comments
Artwork management and asset libraryversions, markets, printer slots; published ads, images and posts
Product informationbills of materials, formulations and pack specs
Studies and certificateslife-cycle studies, lab reports, certificate registries and supplier declarations
ERP stockunits in warehouses and stores by SKU and label version
E-signatureLegal sign-off with signer identity
What it changes

The difference, in numbers.

Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.

target
100%
of packs and paid ads checked against each market's rules before print
8 of 8 claims judged
every verdict cited
estimated
€61.8k
to sticker 412,000 units on shelf instead of €185,400 to reprint
Reprint€185,400
Sticker fix€61,800
target
2days
from submission to Legal sign-off, from 9 working days
Today9 days
With agents2 days

“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample data · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = our estimate, against a 9-working-day median to Legal sign-off in the demonstration case · “typical” = published figures (European Commission study of environmental claims in the EU, 2020: 53% vague, misleading or unfounded, 40% unsubstantiated). Rules named: Directive (EU) 2024/825, applying from 27 Sep 2026; France, Code de l'environnement L541-9-1. Kestrel & Vane Group, its brands, suppliers and the people named on this page are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.

Questions

What compliance, legal and sustainability teams ask us.

What is Green Claims Substantiation?

Green claims compliance software that checks marketing and label environmental claims against evidence before publication. Seven agents box every claim on a label, ad or page — written or implied — judge it by each market's rules, match it to the study or certificate that proves it, check the evidence covers what the claim says and propose wording. The compliance lead decides each change and Legal signs before print.

How does it find implied claims such as a leaf, a globe or our own seal?

The Spotter agent boxes symbols, imagery, seals and colour fields with the same weight as text, and says why a shopper would read them as a claim. On the sample label it found a leaf-and-globe behind the brand name and a home-made “GreenLeaf Choice” seal alongside six written claims.

How does it handle different rules in each market?

The Rules agent applies each market's rules and your company policy, and cites the passage. The same artwork switches verdicts by market: “biodegradable” backed by an OECD 301B test is substantiated in Germany and banned on packaging in France. The Rewriter proposes wording in each language that fits the panel.

Does it check that the evidence covers the whole claim?

Yes. The Evidence agent checks scope — part or whole, period, region and validity — and shows the claim and what the evidence covers side by side. A certificate for a 50% recycled bottle body does not support “50% recycled plastic” on a pack whose cap is virgin plastic; the whole pack is 31.9%, so the agents propose “cap excluded”.

What about packs already on shelf when a rule changes or a certificate lapses?

The Register agent keeps every approved claim with its evidence and expiry. When a rule changes or evidence lapses, it lists the artworks and the units in market that carry the claim, and costs each fix — sticker, reprint or withdraw — for the Brand Manager and Legal to approve.

Does the AI change our artwork or publish anything?

No. The agents never change artwork, publish, print, withdraw or relabel. They propose; annotations go back to the design tool as tracked comments for the designer.

Do people stay in control?

Yes. The compliance lead approves, edits or rejects each change with a reason code, and every disagreement between agents goes to a person. Legal signs every pack before print, and the print lock holds until that signature. Every step is on the audit trail.

How long does it take to go live?

The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents — your markets, company policy, evidence library and a sample of past artwork — and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. We will walk you through it on your own labels first.

See it on
your next label.

We'll run Green Claims Substantiation on your own artwork, evidence and markets.