Johannes Naimer‑Stach appeared on ORF to discuss greenwashing, new EU regulations, and the importance of credible sustainability communication.
Johannes Naimer‑Stach, Managing Director of the Climate Action Academy, recently appeared as an expert on greenwashing in two ORF formats. Both appearances focused on misleading sustainability claims in the context of the new EU directive and on what these changes will mean in practice for companies.
On 30 March 2026, Johannes Naimer‑Stach and Lara Breitmoser (WWF Austria) joined host Andreas Obrecht on the Ö1 programme Punkt eins to discuss “Strategies against Greenwashing”. The discussion centred on the growing prevalence of vague environmental claims and the forthcoming EU directive Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition (EmpCo Directive). The directive aims to strengthen consumer protection against misleading sustainability claims by introducing clear, verifiable criteria for environmental and climate‑related statements. Naimer‑Stach emphasised that terms such as “climate‑friendly” or “climate‑neutral” may only be used in future if they can be substantiated across the entire value chain.
Greenwashing was also addressed on ORF’s breakfast television programme Guten Morgen Österreich. On 10 April 2026, Naimer‑Stach spoke with host Eva Pölzl about climate neutrality, sustainability communication, and the practical implications of the new EU requirements. The discussion highlighted that the EmpCo Directive, which comes into force in September, will bring significant changes for marketing, corporate communication, and sustainability reporting. In future, sustainability claims will need to be far more precise, transparent, and verifiable.
The new EU measures against greenwashing represent an important step towards making sustainability claims verifiable and creating reliable decision‑making frameworks for consumers and markets alike. The ORF appearances clearly illustrate the high demand for information and underline how crucial it will be for companies to understand regulatory requirements at an early stage and to implement sustainability in a fact‑based manner.
