Regulations
Carbon footprint regulations what they require and what you may be asked.
The carbon footprint rules that affect a company in Spain and the EU include Royal Decree 214/2025, the CSRD with the ESRS standards and the rules on environmental claims. This section summarises each one with its official source and review date, and it is not legal advice.
Carbon footprint obligations rarely arrive as a rule that names you. They arrive as a request from a customer, a tender or a sustainability report. This section explains what lies behind those requests. It is general information with official sources and does not replace legal advice.
Which rules matter and who do they affect?
| Rule | What it regulates | Who it affects | Status on 3 October 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Royal Decree 214/2025 | Organisation footprint calculation, reduction plan and register | Companies required to publish non-financial information, and part of the public sector | In force |
| CSRD and ESRS E1 | Sustainability reporting, including Scope 3 emissions | Companies with more than 1,000 employees and more than EUR 450 million turnover; their suppliers indirectly | Directive 2026/470 published; revised ESRS published, mandatory from 2027 |
| EmpCo and Green Claims | Environmental claims in communications to consumers | Companies that tell consumers about the environmental attributes of their products | EmpCo applicable from 27 September 2026; Green Claims, proposal blocked |
| CBAM | Embedded emissions of certain imports | Importers of cement, iron and steel, aluminium, fertilisers, electricity and hydrogen | Definitive regime since 1 January 2026 |
| Digital product passport | Structured data about a product | Product groups covered by delegated acts | Pending delegated acts |
How does this relate to the product footprint?
None of these rules, on their own, requires you to hold a product carbon footprint certificate. What happens is that customers who are obliged need data from their value chain, and they ask their suppliers. A calculation with a recognised, traceable and verified method answers that request. See how on the carbon footprint for suppliers page.
How do we keep this section up to date?
Every page cites the official source and shows its review date. Rules change, especially in corporate sustainability, so always check the text currently in force before making a decision.
In this section
Royal Decree 214/2025
What Spain's Royal Decree 214/2025 requires: who must calculate their footprint, the five-year reduction plan, publication and the register. Source: BOE.
CSRD and ESRS E1
What changed with Directive 2026/470 and the revised ESRS, who the CSRD obliges and how it affects Scope 3 and suppliers. Sources: EUR-Lex and the Commission.
EmpCo and Green Claims
EmpCo is a directive, not a regulation: its new rules are not enforceable until Spanish law. Unfair-competition rules already sanction generic greenwashing.
Digital product passport
What the digital product passport of Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 is, how it is set per product group, and what you can organise now. Official sources.
EUDR
What the EUDR is, who it affects, when it applies (30 December 2026) and how it differs from carbon footprinting. Official sources and what Xain does.
Keep reading
Solutions
Software that calculates and certifies the product carbon footprint and Scope 3 of purchases with physical factors and an ISO 14067 method verified by LRQA.
Methodology
How Xain calculates the product carbon footprint: physical factors, process tree, most conservative factor and primary data. An ISO 14067 methodology by LRQA.
Glossary
Glossary of product carbon footprint and Scope 3 with twenty key terms: emission factor, ISO 14067, GHG Protocol, CSRD, EPD or CBAM, with official sources.
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One product, a catalogue or your purchases. We reply with the next steps.
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