This translation has not been editorially reviewed yet. The German version is authoritative. Deutsche Fassung
CO₂ & EmpCo
Which sustainability label can a website show?
A seal looks like confirmation from outside. That is why, since 27 September 2026, a website may only show sustainability seals backed by a genuine certification scheme or a public authority. The check looks for images and texts that look like such a seal: climate-neutral seals from offsetting providers and the carbon badges that some websites embed in the footer.
What makes a certification scheme
A certification scheme in the sense of the directive has open criteria that any manufacturer can meet, verification by an independent third party, regular monitoring and a procedure for deviations from the criteria. The EU Ecolabel, the Blue Angel and the Austrian Ecolabel meet this. A seal that a company gives itself, or a badge that a website displays after an online test, does not: the independent verification is missing. There is no official register of permissible seals; the German federal government’s portal Siegelklarheit.de serves as a guide.
What the check recognises as a seal
The check reads the alternative texts, titles and file names of all images and reports climate-neutral and CO₂ seals and carbon badges, as well as texts such as “cleaner than 76 % of web pages”. The website’s own logo does not count as a seal. Every match is a note to look into, because the image does not show whether a certification scheme stands behind the seal.
Examples
Badge in the footer
Diese Seite ist sauberer als 76 % aller getesteten Webseiten (Badge eines Online-Rechners).Datenmenge der Startseite: 820 KB je Aufruf, gemessen am 12.09.2026.- List all seals, badges and plaques on your website, including in the footer.
- For each seal, check who awards it, under which public criteria, and who independently monitors compliance.
- Take every seal off the page for which one of these details is missing.
