The Federation of European Screen Printers Associations (FESPA) has launched a new anti-greenwashing sustainability guide, which is designed to assist businesses across the print and visual communications industries navigate modifying environmental regulations.
The guide, titled ‘Understanding and Avoiding Greenwash’, advises on how businesses can ensure their sustainability messaging is accurate, credible, and evidence-based – and ultimately avoid ‘greenwashing’.
Inaccurate environmental messaging or ‘greenwashing’ can occur when a company misleads customers due to poor data, a lack of knowledge, or a misunderstanding of its full environmental impact.
The guide, which is part of FESPA’s Sustainability Spotlight initiative, provides practical guidance for companies striving to communicate greener business operations responsibly while avoiding the reputational and legal risks associated with misleading claims.
Governments and regulators across the UK and EU are in the process of tightening legislation to prevent misleading or unsubstantiated environmental claims. The guide responds to this modifying landscape by assisting businesses understand what constitutes greenwashing and how to ensure their claims meet regulatory expectations.
According to research cited in the guide, more than 53% of environmental claims are vague, misleading, or unfounded, while 40% lack supporting evidence. In addition, the EU alone currently has more than 230 sustainability labels and 100 green energy labels, many with varying levels of transparency and verification.
A key focus of the guide is the growing importance of supply chain transparency. Even businesses that operate primarily in B2B markets may be required to provide evidence that supports sustainability claims built by their customers.
As a result, organisations operating in the EU and UK must maintain robust documentation and ensure that information from suppliers can support any environmental claims built about products or services.
The guide also highlights upcoming regulatory developments including the EU’s Directive on Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition, which will introduce stricter requirements on environmental claims when fully implemented by 2026.
Existing members can access the new greenwashing guide online through the FESPA Members Platform.
FESPA’s international print and signage exhibition, FESPA Global Print Expo, will return in May, taking place at the Fira de Barcelona for 2026.
As well as co-hosting with the European Sign Expo and Personalisation Experience, this year will see the integration of WrapFest to the exhibition, as well as the launch of two new co-hosted events, Textile and Corrugated.
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