For a long time, sustainability work in a manufacturing company could wait. The report was written once a year, filed in a folder, and the factory ran the same way the next morning. Clients rarely asked for more, and nobody really checked.
I understand how that happens. The work costs money now, and the benefit shows up later, often in someone else’s budget. But in 2026 waiting stopped being free. Let’s look at what changed.
Green claims now need proof
Since 27 September 2026, the EU’s Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive applies across the Union. Generic claims such as “eco-friendly”, “green” or “sustainable” are now banned unless a recognised certification or verifiable evidence stands behind them. Plenty of companies still have exactly these words on their packaging and websites.
However uncomfortable it sounds, a line that was harmless marketing last year can now be an unfair commercial practice. This is where an LCA or an EPD changes its role. It stops being a technical document that only the engineers open, and it becomes your evidence. And if the evidence isn’t there yet, the honest move is to rewrite the claim until it is.
Product data is becoming a legal requirement
The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) will require a Digital Product Passport for most products sold in the EU. The first passport, for batteries, becomes mandatory in February 2027 under the EU Battery Regulation, and other product groups will follow as the rules for each sector are adopted.
Here is the good news. If you already have EPDs, a big part of the data a passport needs is sitting in them, so you are not starting from zero. Still, the work has a cost, and the only real question is when you pay it. The company that starts mapping its data now pays once, calmly. The company that waits pays in a rush, and may lose a tender while it catches up, because many clients already ask for this data, law or no law.
Nature is entering the boardroom
Biodiversity is the part of my work closest to my heart. Animal welfare is what brought me into this field, and habitat loss is where it meets the work I do with companies. More and more investors expect companies to report their nature-related risks using the TNFD framework. For an industrial company this means asking where your sites and suppliers depend on land, water and healthy soil, and where they damage them.
I’ll be honest: a TNFD assessment won’t save a single species on its own. What it does is show a company where its biggest dependencies and impacts are. That is the first step to a plan that changes something on the ground, and not only in the report.
Why a boutique consultancy
I started AvivGreen because I kept running into the same gap. On one side, the science is solid and the EU rules change every few months. On the other side, there is a production manager with a full inbox who simply wants to know what to do on Monday. Somebody has to stand in the middle and translate. That is the job I wanted.
Large consultancies can bridge that gap too, but often with a senior person at the first meeting and a junior team after it. So I built the opposite. You talk to the same senior person from the first call to the final report. If the project needs a specialist, we bring one in. If it doesn’t, you don’t pay for one. You can read more about how we work on the About page.
Where to start
If you are not sure where your company stands, try one simple test. Take this question to your next management meeting: which of our environmental claims could we prove tomorrow if a regulator asked? It’s an uncomfortable question, I know. But the answer usually shows quickly what you need: an LCA, a DPP readiness check, or simply an honest rewrite of your marketing texts.
On this blog I’ll write about these topics as they look in practice, with real numbers and without the green fluff. I’ll keep the articles short enough to read over a coffee. If you’d rather talk about your own situation, book a short scoping call. And if you want the regulatory news once a month, sorted and explained, subscribe to The Navigation.
Andrea Nyilas, founder of AvivGreen