Webinar
Green Claims, Red Flags: The New EU Rules for Tourism Marketing
November 12, 2026
10:30am ET / 4:30pm CET
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About the Session
Is calling your hotel “eco-friendly” now against the rules? Can you still promote a carbon-neutral trip? And could your sustainability marketing be putting your business at legal risk without you even realizing it?
New EU rules are changing what travel businesses can and can’t say about sustainability. Under the EmpCo Directive, familiar marketing claims, climate promises, and eco labels face tougher restrictions. And you don’t have to be based in Europe to be affected. If you’re marketing to EU travelers, these rules matter to you.
But where does that leave businesses and destinations that are actually doing the work? How do you tell travelers about your sustainability efforts when you’re still making progress or aren’t sure what you’re allowed to say?
Join Sustainable Travel International for a conversation with representatives from the European Commission. This is a unique opportunity to hear directly from the people who helped develop the new EU rules and ask them your questions. We’ll cut through the legal jargon, break down what the new rules mean for tourism, and look at marketing examples to show what you can and can’t say.
What You'll Learn
- The claims that could get you into trouble: Common pitfalls under the new EU rules and which sustainability claims, messages, and labels to avoid.
- What to say instead: How to rewrite risky claims into engaging marketing without getting bogged down in technical jargon. Bring your own examples to brainstorm.
- How to talk about sustainability when you're far from perfect: What to say when you're trying to do better but still have a ways to go.
- How much proof is enough? What you need to back up your claims and the easiest ways to get it.
- What to say instead of “carbon neutral”: How to talk about carbon offsets without misrepresenting their impact.
Can’t make the live event? Register anyways and we’ll send you the recording.
Meet the Experts
Speaker
Jana Hošková, PhD
Deputy Head of Unit in Consumer Policy and Sustainability | European Commission
Jana Hošková, PhD has been working for the European Commission since 2014. She is currently deputy Head of Unit in consumer policy and sustainability, Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers working on greening the Union horizontal consumer law, and on developing consumer policies, especially sustainable consumption.
Between 2014 and 2021 she led a team actively promoting EU values, including fundamental rights, rule of law, and equality by providing EU financial support mostly to civil society organisations, and public authorities. Before joining the European Commission, Ms Hošková led performance audits in the field of energy, research and external actions at the European Court of Auditors. Ms Hošková studied economics in Bratislava, Slovakia and obtained her PhD in international relations..
Speaker
Jeroen Van Laer
Policy Officer | European Commission
Jeroen Van Laer is Policy Officer in the Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers of the European Commission, where he works since 2010 on various EU sustainable consumption policies, in recent years on the ‘greening’ of EU consumer laws with the new Directive adopted in 2024 on Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition.
Prior to this period, he was working in the economist unit at the European Commission’s Directorate General for the Environment and at the environmental reporting team from the Flanders Environment Agency in Belgium. He is an economist by training from the Catholic University of Leuven and has an advanced master degree in international relations and European integration from the University of Liège.
Moderator
Paloma Zapata
CEO | Sustainable Travel International
Paloma Zapata leads Sustainable Travel International’s global efforts to maximize tourism’s contribution to environmental conservation and community well-being. With over 15 years of experience in sustainable tourism, Paloma has implemented impactful initiatives in 26 nations across the globe. Paloma works alongside destination leaders and communities to address the pressures of tourism growth, helping them plan for sustainable visitation, strengthen destination stewardship, and ensure tourism delivers benefits for residents, the environment, and local economies. Her work includes tourism management and carrying capacity initiatives in destinations worldwide, including island destinations such as Aruba, Curaçao, and the Seychelles. She also manages the organization’s efforts to engage the tourism industry in climate action through a suite of carbon measurement, action planning, offsetting, and educational solutions.
Register for the Webinar
Register to attend live or receive the recording.
November 12 | 10:30am ET / 4:30pm CET | Free to Attend
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