“The world is in a race against time. We cannot afford slow movers, fake movers or any form of greenwashing,” said António Guterres, the UN secretary-general.
In the corporate world, there are two words: whitewashing and greenwashing. Whitewashing is when an organization covers up or glosses over scandalous information by presenting a biased representation of the facts.
Greenwashing means when an organization worked hard to introduce itself as environmentally friendly, rather than working on actually minimizing its environmental impact.
Greenwashing is a deceitful marketing gimmick intended to mislead consumers who prefer to buy goods and services from environmentally conscious brands. Environmentalist Jay Westerveld coined the term “greenwashing” in 1986.
Greenwashing Is On The Rise
Greenwashing is a way for companies to appear socially responsible while continuing to operate against the environment or as they wish.
Greenwashing is a concealment technique used by companies by which companies hide the damage they cause to the environment and nature from their consumers. Greenwashing companies use advertising and public messaging to look truly eco-friendly, climate-friendly and environmentally sustainable.
Greenwashing is an environmental marketing with little or no love for environment and Nature. One recent review of 500 commercial websites by Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority found 40% of environmental claims to be misleading.
How Companies Greenwash
It also found that four in 10 of these websites appeared to be using tactics that could be considered misleading and break consumer law. Here are a few examples of how companies do that:
- Use of words by companies for their products like “eco”, “sustainable” or “natural products”, without adequate explanation or evidence of the claims.
- Use of brand’s own eco logos and labels, by companies, not associated with an accredited organisation.
- Hiding or omitting product’s pollution levels, to appear more eco-friendly.
According to NewClimate Institute, an independent and Germany-based organization, many companies overestimated the extent to which their actions would reduce carbon emissions.
How Can Consumers Avoid Such Companies?
In such deceitful marketing gimmicks the consumer might really be in a difficult situation to identify and differentiate which companies are eco-friendly, climate friendly and sustainable, and which companies are not but pretending to be so.
Click on the links below and go through the resources for important tips to find a true eco-friendly, sustainable, and climate friendly company for the products you use.
- Recently, The Washington Post published the best tips on how to approach corporate, climate claims.
- In an article, Business News Daily also explained the ways inwhich consumers can avoid greenwashing.
- Also, here are 10 companies that have been caught greenwashing in various ways.
- Here are some more greenwashing products you must know about.
- There are also transparency tools for specific industries, such as the Higg Index.
Greenwashing Versus Green Marketing
There is a little difference between green marketing and greenwashing. When companies sell products or services based on legitimate environmental positives, it is called green marketing.
It is generally practical, honest, and transparent, and products or services meet the criteria of sustainability, environment safety and climate safety.
What Can We Do To Fight Greenwashing?
Environmentally friendly goods is a hot industry. In 2019 alone, the UK spent £41 billion on eco-friendly goods and services.
In a survey by the Capgemini Research Institute, almost half consumers believed that they did not have the necessary information to verify the products’ sustainability claims, and 44% said they did not trust these claims.
There are only a few nations which are working to control greenwashing by companies. Governments of different countries should make laws to control greenwashing by companies and to ensure consumer rights for eco-friendly products. In 2020 the EU parliament passed a law to define and regulate greenwashing.
In future, the consumers would be keen on adopting eco-friendly practices. According to recent data, 26% of European citizens buy only “eco-friendly goods” and in Asia, 75% of Asian consumers reported motivation to significantly lessen their environmental footprint.
We will have to remember that brands or products claiming eco-friendly products make us feel better about our overconsumption, and our consumerism only. For nature’s sake, consumers should buy less.