EmpCo Tools at a Glance: 13 Helpers for EmpCo-Compliant Green Claims
Which tools help you review your green claims before 27 September 2026? 13 checks, scanners, and databases from the DACH region compared – with a clear verdict on what is free and what a tool simply cannot do.
- From 27 September 2026, the EmpCo Directive (EU) 2024/825 applies – transposed in Germany through the Third Act Amending the UWG (Federal Law Gazette 2026 I No. 43). No transition period, no grandfathering.
- The market has responded: within a few months, numerous EmpCo checks and claim scanners have appeared. Most of them offer a free entry level.
- The tools fall into three categories: structured self-assessments, automated claim scanners, and permanent management software. To get started, you usually need two of them.
- The biggest misconception: most companies do not fail on the wording, they fail on the evidence – and on the fact that nobody formally approves claims.
- No tool replaces a legal case-by-case review; the reputable providers say so themselves. As triage, they are still worth their weight in gold.
From 27 September 2026, vague green advertising is over. We have broken down exactly what stays allowed and what does not in our article on the EmpCo Directive and the EU FAQ; for the broad overview of deadlines, prohibitions, and the UWG transposition, see EmpCo Directive: everything you need to know now. This post goes one step further: it shows which tools get you through the transition in practice.
Because the real work is not a legal problem, it is an organisational one. Environmental claims hide in product descriptions, footer texts, old campaign pages, trade-fair flyers, and LinkedIn posts. Going through 200 subpages by hand takes weeks – and you still miss half of them.
Three types of EmpCo tools – and when you need which
Before you work your way through provider lists, it is worth asking what you are actually looking for. The offerings split cleanly into three groups:
| Category | What it does | When it makes sense |
|---|---|---|
| Structured self-assessment | Questionnaire on claims, evidence, labels, and approval processes; the result is a maturity score | Right at the start: where do we even stand? |
| Claim scanner | Automated review of websites, texts, PDFs, or advertising material against the prohibited practices | Once you know your inventory but not where the risks sit |
| Management software | Ongoing administration of all communication assets with risk level, version, evidence, and approval | When claims keep being created – so in almost every company with active marketing |
Most companies get going with the combination of self-assessment and scanner. It only becomes sustainable with the third category, because EmpCo is not a one-off task: every new flyer, every product text, and every campaign creates new claims. For how these tools fit into the wider ESG tool landscape, see our CSR tool overview.
1. leadity – from a free check to EmpCo software
Category: self-assessment + management software · Free: check yes, no login · Based in: Hamburg
The EmpCo check by leadity is the most structured free entry point we found in the DACH region. In 19 questions and about four minutes you get a score from 0 to 100, broken down into four blocks:
- Block A – claim type and sensitivity: which kinds of statements do you use at all?
- Block B – evidence and substantiation: can you back them up, and is the evidence at hand?
- Block C – labels and certification: do you use labels, and is there a genuine certification scheme behind them?
- Block D – governance and approval: who signs off claims in your organisation – and against which criteria?
It is precisely this fourth block that sets it apart from pure text checkers. The typical gap in mid-sized companies is not the wording, it is that the evidence sits somewhere on a shared drive and nobody is formally responsible. A tool that only checks words will never find that problem – and that is exactly where the classic mistakes in sustainability communication come from.
No login, no registration for the result. It is based on the EmpCo Directive, the ZNU guideline, and leadity's own EmpCo checklist.
When the check shows it is more than a clean-up
If your result comes out thin – and for most companies it does – a single round of corrections is not enough. You then need one place where all communication assets come together with their claims, evidence, and approvals. That is exactly what leadity built its EmpCo module inside its ESG software for. The structure follows the same logic as the check: overview first, then inventory, then ongoing review.
The heart of it is the management of communication assets. Every social post, every brochure, and every website page sits there as its own record – with type, status, date of the last assessment, risk level, number of claims contained, version, and an owner with a due date.
What saves the most time in practice: the filters. "High risk", "website", "incomplete" – that way you work through the critical cases first instead of grinding alphabetically through 80 records. The processing status shows at any time how many assets are still open. For team approvals there are comment functions and status values such as "under review" or "in progress", which replaces the email loops between marketing, sustainability, and legal.
When creating a record you can paste text, link a URL, or attach files – PDF, DOCX, PNG, JPG, or TXT. Everything is checked for claims together. The live check is particularly interesting: linked websites can be monitored automatically and regularly for new claims. That way it gets noticed when someone in marketing puts a "climate neutral" module back in without asking the sustainability team.
Our verdict on leadity: the check is worth doing even if you never use the software – it is simply the best free maturity test. The software pays off as soon as several people work on claims or you run more than a handful of channels.
2. EmpCo Scanner – the fastest look at your inventory
Category: claim scanner · Free: up to 5 pages, no login · Based in: Germany
Enter the domain, start the scan, read the result. The EmpCo Scanner checks websites, individual texts, uploaded PDFs, and advertising material against the directive's prohibited practices. Up to five pages are free, with no registration.
It checks for per-se prohibitions ("climate neutral", "environmentally friendly"), offset-based claims, unsubstantiated future promises, and generic environmental claims. The paid report additionally delivers an Excel checklist with status tracking – handy when several people work through the corrections. The tool was developed together with REIMAGINE 2050 GmbH.
Strength: finds the forgotten legacy content – footer texts, old landing pages, PDF downloads from 2022. Limit: it tells you where something is, not whether you can substantiate it.
3. VERDAI – check and rewrite in one go
Category: claim scanner with wording suggestions · Free: 7-day trial · Based in: Stuttgart
VERDAI automatically detects environmental claims on websites, in PDFs, and across social media channels and scores each one with a transparency rating from 0 to 100. The real value, though, lies in the third step: the tool proposes concrete rewrites.
"Sustainability matters to us" (score 18) becomes "We reduce our CO₂ footprint by 15% every year and document our progress in line with the GHG Protocol" (score 89). That is exactly the translation work marketing teams otherwise get stuck on – they know the old wording no longer works, but not what the new one should sound like.
On top of that there is a transparency hub that makes reviewed claims publicly visible with linked evidence. For industry associations and destinations, VERDAI also offers anonymised benchmark studies.
Strength: delivers solutions, not just findings. Limit: paid after seven days.
4. TÜV Rheinland Green Claims Quick Check – with a disclosed scoring logic
Category: self-assessment · Free: yes · Based in: Cologne
The Green Claims Quick Check by TÜV Rheinland Consulting takes three to five minutes and assesses three levels: claim sensitivity, evidence base, and governance maturity. The result comes as a three-step traffic light, complemented by a detailed glossary FAQ.
What stands out: the scoring logic is documented. You can trace why a statement counts as critical – and pass that on internally without falling back on "the tool just says so". There is also a free on-demand webinar on EmpCo and the UWG.
5. everwave EmpCo check – an AI audit of your whole website
Category: claim scanner · Free: yes, after manual approval · Based in: Aachen
The EmpCo check by everwave scans the entire website and sorts the findings into four risk fields: vague claims, offset-based climate neutrality, unsubstantiated future targets, and self-made labels. The result is a PDF report with a traffic-light system.
Notably, the provider states the check is entirely free for established companies and brands – but every request is approved manually so that only your own domains get scanned. That costs a few days, but it is a quality signal.
6. Glacier EmpCo Checker – from Austria, with references to standards
Category: claim scanner · Free: instant assessment free of charge · Based in: Vienna
The EmpCo Checker by Glacier reviews websites, documents, and campaigns and delivers a concrete action per finding – with a reference to the relevant standard and the EU FAQ. The first assessment only needs a URL, no setup and no credit card.
Interesting for consultancies: the report can be issued under your own branding.
7. Matchilla EmpCo check
Category: self-assessment · Free: yes, registration required · Based in: Germany
The EmpCo check by Matchilla runs inside the Matchilla platform and reviews sustainability claims interactively. Fully free, although a platform registration is required. Mainly worth it if you use the platform anyway.
8. empco-check.com
Category: claim scanner · Free: trial period
empco-check.com checks websites, documents, and marketing claims for EmpCo risks. Free entry with registration, paid after that. Functionally close to VERDAI and Glacier – comparing the three is worth it before you commit.
9. An EmpCo skill for AI assistants – the most unusual approach
Category: editorial tool · Free: yes, no sign-up
WeShyft provides a downloadable EmpCo skill: a single file that enables your AI assistant to check advertising copy against the directive, rate every environmental claim with a traffic light, and propose rewrites.
The appeal lies in how it is used: instead of a one-off review at the end, EmpCo becomes part of the writing process. If you write with AI anyway, every draft gets checked as it is created. That is closer to the reality of a marketing team than any audit. If you want the same effect without an extra tool, our 10 EmpCo AI prompts for implementing the directive will help.
It does require a suitable AI assistant. We described how we work with this kind of tooling at CSR Tools using our own website as the example here.
10–11. Checking labels: Siegelklarheit and LABEL-ONLINE
Category: database · Free: yes, no registration
The most frequently overlooked part of the whole regulation: a sustainability label is only permitted if a genuine certification scheme sits behind it – with transparent criteria and, according to the updated EU FAQ, legally separate entities for the scheme owner and the verifying body. Self-designed logos and internal "green awards" drop out entirely.
Two free databases help with the assessment:
- Siegelklarheit – run by the consumer advice centre of North Rhine-Westphalia and funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. It rates labels by ambition level and credibility, with the verdicts "good choice" and "very good choice". Focus areas: fashion and textiles, multimedia, household, building and living.
- LABEL-ONLINE – run by Verbraucher Initiative e. V., the largest German label database. It also explains the label types and makes visible where a supposed certification mark is in fact a pure marketing label.
Explicitly privileged are the EU Ecolabel and Type I environmental labels under EN ISO 14024, such as the Blue Angel. Why labels so quickly trigger greenwashing accusations is covered in our green claims checklist.
12–13. The official sources – free and with no sales interest
Not tools, but the basis for all tools:
- Q&A of the European Commission on the EmpCo Directive – the only reliable interpretation aid, as of June 2026. Not legally binding, but referred to by courts and authorities. Only available in English.
- Article by the Bavarian Environment Agency – the best German-language summary from a public authority: list of prohibitions, new information duties, examples of admissible claims, all primary sources linked.
Two more sources belong on your watch list for the coming months: the topic page of the Wettbewerbszentrale, where you see first who gets a cease-and-desist letter and where the limits run in practice, and the Third Act Amending the UWG in the Federal Law Gazette, meaning the statutory text that actually applies in Germany.
Free guides and checklists
If you would rather read than click, these five documents are worth your time:
| Document | Publisher | Access |
|---|---|---|
| EmpCo checklist | CSR Tools | free download, no purchase |
| EmpCo implementation guide | German National Tourist Board | direct download, no form |
| EmpCo Directive checklist | Mittelstand-Digital Zentrum Tourismus (publicly funded) | freely accessible |
| FAQ on environmental advertising under EmpCo and the UWG | German Printing and Media Industries Federation | info page free, full document for members |
| EmpCo obligations and quick check | intep (DACH/Switzerland) | freely accessible |
Our own EmpCo checklist walks you through claim inventory, evidence review, label check, and approval process step by step – so it is exactly the working list you need after a scan. Both tourism documents are labelled for their sector but are methodologically usable for anyone; the guide from the German National Tourist Board in particular is one of the very few genuinely comprehensive German-language PDFs without a lead gate.
From claim inventory to approval process: the checklist walks you through every review step that no scanner can take off your hands.
The comparison at a glance
| Tool | Category | Free | Registration | Distinctive feature |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| leadity EmpCo check | self-assessment | yes | no | 19 questions, 4 blocks incl. governance |
| leadity EmpCo software | management | no | yes | portfolio, versions, live check |
| EmpCo Scanner | scanner | up to 5 pages | no | website, text, PDF, ad material |
| VERDAI | scanner | 7 days | yes | rewrite suggestions |
| TÜV Rheinland Quick Check | self-assessment | yes | no | disclosed scoring logic |
| everwave EmpCo check | scanner | yes | manual approval | PDF traffic-light report |
| Glacier EmpCo Checker | scanner | first check | no | standards references, white label |
| Matchilla | self-assessment | yes | yes | integrated into the platform |
| empco-check.com | scanner | trial | yes | websites and documents |
| WeShyft EmpCo skill | editorial | yes | no | checks while you write |
| Siegelklarheit | database | yes | no | publicly backed |
| LABEL-ONLINE | database | yes | no | largest label database |
| European Commission FAQ | source | yes | no | authoritative interpretation |
What a tool cannot do
Three limits are worth knowing before you rely on a result:
All reputable providers write this into their own FAQ. Whether a claim is misleading is decided from the perspective of an average, reasonably well-informed consumer in the specific context – and courts, not algorithms, make that call in the end.
Tools find words, not missing evidence. A scanner cannot know whether "30% less CO₂" rests on a robust calculation or on an estimate from 2019. Only a structured evidence process closes that gap.
Images and names remain a matter of interpretation. Green leaves, nature motifs, and product names containing "eco" can count as environmental claims depending on context. Automated checks struggle with that – here you need human judgement. If you need that outside perspective, our sustainability communication check is the right next step.
How to proceed: five steps
- Determine your maturity. A structured self-assessment shows you within minutes whether you have a wording problem or an evidence problem. That decides everything else.
- Scan your inventory. Search websites, PDFs, catalogues, and social media channels automatically. The goal is a complete list of all environmental claims, not their assessment.
- Remove hard prohibitions immediately. Offset-based climate neutrality, blanket terms without explanation, self-made labels. That is the fastest risk reduction and costs no discussion.
- Check your labels. Match every label you use against Siegelklarheit or LABEL-ONLINE. Anything without a certification scheme goes.
- Establish a process. Store evidence in one place, assign responsibilities, define approval. Otherwise you repeat the clean-up in twelve months.
You can manage the first four steps in one to two weeks. The fifth decides whether it stays that way – and it is the point where compliance turns into good sustainability communication.
Frequently asked questions about EmpCo tools
Is a free tool enough?
For taking stock, yes. The free checks and scanners reliably show you where critical claims sit and how mature your processes are. For permanently managing many communication assets and documenting evidence they hit their limits – that is where management software begins.
Does an EmpCo tool replace legal advice?
No, and no reputable provider claims it does. The tools prioritise risks and save you most of the search time. For a concrete risk of a cease-and-desist letter, contested wording, or visual depictions, you need a legal assessment.
Does EmpCo also apply in B2B?
The EmpCo Directive comes from consumer protection law and targets commercial practices towards end consumers. In pure B2B, the new list of prohibitions does not apply directly. The prohibition of misleading practices under Section 5 of the German UWG still applies there unchanged – and customers increasingly adopt the EmpCo criteria in their supplier requirements.
What about the Green Claims Directive?
Contrary to many reports it has not been formally withdrawn, it is on hold; the Commission still lists the proposal as pending. It would have brought the concrete substantiation criteria, so those are still missing. What applies is EmpCo via the UWG. We summarised the state of play in our green claims checklist.
Which tool should I use first?
Start with a self-assessment, not a scanner. A scanner hands you a list of findings before you know whether you can substantiate them at all – which leads to activity at the surface. Maturity first, inventory second.
Conclusion
The EmpCo toolbox has become remarkably good over the past months. Between free self-assessments, AI-supported scanners, and official sources from public authorities, every company finds an entry point – regardless of size and budget.
What matters is using the tools in the right order: first understand where you stand, then screen your inventory, then remove the hard prohibitions. And after that, the most important part: set up a process so that "climate neutral" does not land on the flyer again with the next campaign.
In the end, EmpCo is not a copywriting problem, it is an evidence problem. The claims are rewritten in an afternoon. Building the evidence behind them takes months – and that is exactly why a tool that does more than count words is worth it.
leadity supports CSR Tools as a partner. The selection, order, and assessment of the remaining tools were made independently by our editorial team; we reviewed every offering mentioned.
Sources and further reading
- Directive (EU) 2024/825 in the Official Journal of the EU
- Third Act Amending the UWG, Federal Law Gazette 2026 I No. 43
- European Commission FAQ on the EmpCo Directive (PDF)
- Bavarian Environment Agency: EmpCo Directive
- Wettbewerbszentrale: environment, climate, and sustainability
- The EmpCo Directive and the new EU FAQ: which green claims stay allowed
- EmpCo Directive: everything you need to know now
- Sustainability communication overview: from obligation to opportunity
- Sustainability communication at CSR Tools
