34,529 Statements Captured: What We Have Learned About Sustainability Communication

Many problematic formulations look entirely normal: 'sustainable,' 'resource-saving,' 'environmentally friendly,' 'we take responsibility.' The issue is usually not that companies deliberately intend to deceive, but that marketing language has traditionally compressed and generalised. The EmpCo framework now demands the opposite in many cases: more specificity.

Within the subset of 17,467 claims that have actually been risk-assessed, the distribution breaks down as 1,096 critical (6.3 percent), 3,484 high (19.9 percent), 6,526 medium (37.4 percent), and 6,361 low (36.4 percent). Together, the critical and high bands account for 26.2 percent — but this figure refers only to the 17,467 risk-assessed claims, not to the full set of 34,529 captured claims. This does not mean these statements are automatically unlawful; VERDAI is an orientation and analysis tool, not a court. It simply indicates where a closer look is worthwhile.

Even more interesting are the decisions users actually made. Of 5,235 documented decisions, 55.8 percent resulted in rewording, 36.9 percent in acceptance as-is, 5.1 percent in exclusion, and 2.2 percent in outright removal. Rewording was the most frequently recorded decision. These non-representative records do not measure greenhushing, the reasons for a decision or whether a rewrite proved effective; they therefore cannot establish how companies responded to stricter rules across the wider economy.

The dataset includes statements relating to environment, biodiversity, resources, sustainability broadly, social issues, climate, energy, and governance. Public debate tends to focus heavily on CO2 and climate neutrality, but companies communicate on a considerably wider range of topics — which raises the bar for any system attempting to monitor such claims comprehensively.

Green claims are not a niche concern for sustainability managers. They arise anywhere a company talks about its products, progress, values, or impact. Green-claims management is therefore likely to become as routine as brand guidelines or data-protection processes — not because every statement is dangerous, but because companies should know exactly what they are publicly promising.

EmpCo primarily complements the rules for commercial practices directed at consumers. Check the applicable national implementation separately; Germany’s UWG does not automatically govern claims in other countries. Precise wording alone does not replace matching evidence or a responsible person’s decision before publication. Review the overall impression, including the heading, image and immediately visible explanation. Automated findings do not approve a claim.

The 5,235 documented decisions belong to the working snapshot of 22 September 2026. They have their own denominator, separate from 34,529 captured statements and the risk subset of 17,467 statements. Rounded decision shares are 55.8 percent rewording, 36.9 percent acceptance, 5.1 percent exclusion and 2.2 percent removal. These non-representative records measure neither greenhushing nor legal violations or the effect of a rewrite. Do not combine them with the separate Monitor snapshot of 27 September.