What is Greenwashing and How to avoid and not fall for it?
With sustainability increasingly becoming a hot topic, every company now wants to be sustainable. They understand that it makes the company look better in the eyes of the consumers and it can open doors to possible investors.
This change of perception from the public came mostly from the rise of climate change awareness, and the United Nation’s conferences to discuss the future of the planet and its people, following the Sustainable Development Goals established in 2015.
As for the investors, it is notorious that the financial market started to shift their investing criteria to companies that follow the ESG pillars, after, in 2018, Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock (an American multinational investment company, the largest operator in asset management and risk management), wrote in his annual open letter to chief executive officers, entitled “A Sense of Purpose,” that “every company must not only deliver financial performance but also show how it makes a positive contribution to society. Companies must benefit all of their stakeholders, including shareholders, employees, customers, and the communities in which they operate”. Therefore, he would only be investing in companies that followed those guidelines.
Unfortunately, instead of actually adopting a sustainability strategy in their core business, companies tend to use false advertisements to portray themselves as green, ecological, or sustainable. Sometimes on purpose, sometimes by the lack of knowledge.
What is Greenwashing?
The definition of Greenwashing is basically this: A deception tactic, whether intentional or accidental, employed by companies that can lead customers to believe its products, services, or mission cause an environmentally positive impact or are less harmful to the environment than they actually are. That means that the company spends more time and money on marketing itself as being sustainable than on actually minimizing its environmental impact.
The term “greenwashing” was coined by environmentalist Jay Westerveld in 1986 in an essay criticizing the irony and hypocrisy of the “save the towel” movement in hotels at the time. He noticed the vast amount of waste throughout the rest of the hotel, where there were no visible signs of efforts being made to become more sustainable. He said that instead, of addressing the waste issue, the hotel was simply trying to reduce costs by not having to wash towels as much while trying to market it as being eco-friendly.
Types of Greenwashing to look out for
The Canadian environmental marketing consultancy, TerraChoice, put together a document called “The Six Sins of Greenwashing”, where they detail six different types of Greenwashing to look out for.
SIN 1 – Trade-off or hidden environmental cost
To suggest that a product is green, based on only one or few environmental attributes, hiding other information that is relevant. Occasionally, even more important than the information they wanted to highlight. usually, these statements are not false, but the way they portray them makes the product seem more sustainable than it actually is.
Ex.: A cleaning product that is made with toxic chemicals, but on the label, is stated that the packaging is made from recycled materials.
SIN 2 – No proof
To make an environmental claim something that can’t be proven has no technical information to support the claim, or be relied on by third-party certification
Ex. facial tissues or toilet tissue products that claim to be biodegradable without providing evidence.
SIN 3 – Vagueness
When the statement is so vague or not well defined its real meaning can be deceiving to the consumer. All the usage of the terms “eco-friendly”, “sustainable”, and “natural”, without giving a further explanation on why.
Ex.: A product that is stated to be ‘natural’ to claim environmental benefits, arsenic and uranium are both ‘natural’ ingredients, but they are also poisonous.
SIN 4 – Irrelevance
To make a statement that can be true, but is not necessarily relevant for the consumers who are looking to purchase environmentally-friendly products.
Ex.: Insecticide that has on the label to be Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), a substance that has been banned for over 30 years
SIN 5 – The lesser evil
To make environmental statements even when the product itself is socially or environmentally harmful. Qualify a product as “organic” or “green”, when the product itself is questionable.
Ex.: car lubricant that claims to be zero carbon. A car lubricant is an extremely polluting product, in several ways, so ok, it is zero carbon but is harmful in other areas.
SIN 6 – Lying
To make sustainable statements that are straight-up false.
Ex.: A package that says to be 100% in paper but has plastic in it. Or an oil barrel that says to be carbon neutral.
BONUS SIN – Worship of false labels
The consumer usually doesn’t know how to distinguish a true label from a greenwashed one. In the movement of wanting to do good, they believe everything they read on the label or every seal without investigating further or questioning why.
Ex.: When there is a “green” seal on the package of a product that was inserted by the company
So, to not fall into these Greenwahsing traps, my pro tip is: If a company is truly Sustainable, if they are engaged in those topics if sustainability is actually in the DNA of the company, there will be an entire page on their website disclosing their impacts on the environment, and how they are working to make positive impacts and contribute to the community.
Don’t buy from companies that do not state in detail how their products are made, and the impact they have from production to consumer, to discard, and simply make use of “green” terms to attract people who like you, want to use the power they have as consumers to do good. It is the company’s responsibility to create products that do not harm the environment and use fair labor, in all stages of the production chain up until the product is not usable anymore.
