Neutrality & offsetting claim
CO2-positiv
Prohibited per seStatements that are prohibited under EmpCo without exception – e.g. blanket neutrality claims based on offsetting.
What does “CO2-positiv” mean?
CO2-positive asserts that more CO2 is captured or avoided than is caused, going even further than a plain neutrality claim. Because this statement too typically relies on offsetting, it will as a rule be treated as impermissible under the EmpCo directive from the cut-off date of 27 September 2026. The term is especially hard for consumers to verify and is already risky under the prohibition on misleading advertising where a genuinely positive overall balance is not clearly and comprehensibly demonstrated.
Why this term is risky
Claims that base climate or environmental neutrality essentially on offsetting emissions are considered especially risky under the EmpCo transposition. The new annex to the UCP Directive covers blanket neutrality claims based on offsetting; from the 27 September 2026 deadline they are regularly impermissible – regardless of whether certificates were purchased.
Legal basis
Anhang I Nr. 4c UGP-RL i.d.F. EmpCo (EU) 2024/825
The stated legal basis is an assessment, not a conclusively reviewed legal opinion and not individual legal advice.
Detected spellings & languages
- CO2-positiv
- co2 positiv
- co₂-positiv
- carbon positive
- carbon-positive
- carbono positivo
- co2-positief
The scanner detects these and further variants across languages in sentence context.