Emperor Sustainability Briefing 29.01.2026

Issue #13

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(Slightly) quieter on the green front

Taken together, the first two stories in this edition might have those in sustainability communications feeling a little hemmed-in. On the one hand, the looming spectre of greenhushing – a catchy term for the global trend of companies going quieter on sustainability – and on the other, having to tread even more carefully on data quality, or risk being called out over your claims.

To flip it another way, however, these pressures are also cause for optimism. The increased weight that sustainability claims carry in 2026 reflects the greater specificity, importance, and potential for impact that they hold – as well as how much better educated audiences are on the data underlying such claims. These bigger risks necessarily mean bigger rewards for those getting it right, a trend which is only set to continue.

But if you find you need support in navigating these higher stakes – you certainly aren’t alone! 

Contents

CMA claims – Nestle position

TNFD for tech – SFDR questions

EU energy

Stories 

Corporate 

UK CMA recommends companies double check green assurances from suppliers

The UK’s Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) has published supplementary guidance to its Green Claims Code, the code which provides guidelines for making environmental claims. The new guidance makes it clear that the responsibility for the accuracy of a green claim – for instance, a statement about the environmental credentials of a given product – will fall squarely on the company making the claim. This means that companies won’t be able to defend their position by arguing that suppliers provided them with inaccurate or incomplete data. The CMA therefore advises that companies may want to include guarantees around data verification in contractual arrangements, and avoid making any claims that can’t be explicitly verified.

As green claims continue to be prominent in product marketing, the new guidance may well provide useful clarity around what kinds of statements to consumers should be avoided – even as companies continue to work on the fundamental challenge of ensuring high quality data from suppliers. Over the past few years, companies in a wide variety of sectors have been challenged legally over green claims, with Innocent drinks, KLM and Total all having been taken to task.

Nestlé CEO cites Trump for company’s ‘greenhushing’

At an internal Nestlé event, Group CEO Philipp Navratil said it was a shame that the food company had been less vocal on sustainability issues – sharing the blame for their quieter position between himself and the rhetoric of President Trump, whose strong anti-green positions have influenced the stances of companies globally. “Somehow in the US it has totally gone off the agenda”, said Navratil, who said that the Group should “talk about it more”. Reflective of a phenomenon sometimes termed ‘Greenhushing’, Nestlé aren’t alone. Data published by Trellis suggested that companies have been quieter on sustainability, with 36% of consumers saying they’d seen sustainability messaging from a range of brands in 2025, down sharply from 79% in 2022.

Taken alongside the CMA story on Green Claims also in this week’s Briefing, it’s obvious that companies have a lot more to think about when communicating on sustainability than they did four years ago, with the importance, impact, and scrutiny around positions being a lot higher than it used to be. If you’d like to talk about how your brand is currently positioned on sustainability – or would like a sense-check on what you’re communicating! – be in touch with the team at Emperor, and we’d happy to discuss. 

 
Regulation and frameworks 

TNFD releases draft technology and communications sector guidance 

Viewable on their website now, the TNFD’s latest sector guidance is open for consultation until 10th April 2026. The nature disclosure organisation’s sector guidances tend to focus on how to apply its ‘LEAP’ approach, for identifying nature-related impacts, to particular business types. You can find a full list of them here.  

Finance 

EU SFDR verification does not increase green fund flows, says study 

A study, produced by academics from US and European universities has concluded that funds’ alignment with the EU’s sustainability investment framework (SFDR) categories did not ultimately increase the overall sustainability of those funds, or the amount invested into them. To clarify, this isn’t an outright critique that the funds don’t make sustainable investments, or aren’t worthwhile, but rather that SFDR verification itself – which had been intended to be a marker of credibility for green funds – didn’t massively help the performance of those funds. Depending on how seriously the study’s outputs are taken, this in turn suggests that the time commitment and heavy disclosure requirements of SFDR haven’t been overall helpful for the world of green finance. The bright side for the EU is that its overhaul has already been well underway for several years, with reforms aiming to establish the simplicity and streamlining which the study recommends.  You can read more in Briefing Edition #10.  

Energy 

Wind and solar overtake fossil fuels in EU power mix 

According to a report from think tank Ember, wind and solar accounted for 30% of the EU’s energy mix – narrowly beating, for the first time, the 29% contributed from coal, gas and oil. Part of the progress has been credited to battery systems helping to meet demand peaks, replacing the typical strategy of switching on gas plants.

One Number

10,000 

The Science Based Target initiative (SBTi), the organisation which publishes the most widely used carbon target standards, will verify its 10,000th company target this week. The SBTi has been one of sustainability reporting’s great success stories, with its target standards proving both scientifically rigorous and popular. The latest draft of its much awaited ‘2.0’ Standard was released last year – read about it in Briefing edition #9.

Short List

Rio Tinto announced a collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to provide its low carbon ‘Nuton’ copper for components in AWS’ US data centres

Engie is set to build a UK-based biomethane plant in a deal with PepsiCo, supporting decarbonisation of the drinks manufacturer’s supply chain

To discuss any of these topics in more detail or speak to one of our Sustainability team about how to better your corporate sustainability efforts, email [email protected] -we'd love to hear from you.