There’s good news–many people worldwide are taking time and energy to understand how their daily choices and purchases impact the environment. People want to make more environmentally conscious decisions.
This is where the “not-so-good news” is. Many businesses are taking steps to incorporate more sustainable practices. This seems good, but many companies simply put up a facade of sustainability without making meaningful changes to their harmful activities.
This is called “Greenwashing.” It’s critical to understand what Greenwashing is and how we can avoid companies that are guilty of this practice.
What is Greenwashing?
Let’s say it like it is–going green is good for business. Many people are willing to pay more for products or services that are environmentally safe. “Greenwashing” is when a company promises to be sustainable and make environmentally conscious choices but, behind the scenes, fails to keep these promises.
At the core, greenwashing is a form of misinformation designed to attract consumers that want to make eco-friendly choices. Greenwashing almost always involves making unsubstantiated claims to deceive customers and often raise prices.
Greenwashing may also involve highlighting any sustainable aspects of a product so the company can hide other environmentally damaging practices behind the scenes or associated with other products.
Examples of Greenwashing
Greenwashing is when a business or brand tries to appear more sustainable than it really is. At its core, greenwashing is a way for companies to give the impression that they care so they can increase their profit margins and build trust with consumers.
Volkswagen: One famous example of greenwashing is the Volkswagen emissions scandal. Volkswagen knew their cars had a software modification that detected when they were being tested and changed the engine performance to improve environmental test results.
Volkswagon admitted to this method of cheating on the emissions tests and had to recall over 11 million cars. BMW and Mercedes-Benz were later found guilty of a similar emissions scandal.
Keurig: Another recent example of greenwashing is Keurig. The coffee capsule behemoth is worth over $10 billion, but the plastic coffee pods are difficult (borderline impossible) to recycle without specialized recycling services.
Keurig knew many consumers would only buy the coffee pods if they were recyclable. So, Keurig led Canadian consumers to believe they could put their single-use coffee pods into the recycling bins if they pulled off the top and emptied out the coffee and filter.
Unfortunately, the capsules weren’t accepted in most Canadian recycling centers. Toronto had to revert 90 tons of plastic pods from recycling bins.
Keurig was fined $3 million and ordered to change its recycling claims on the packaging.
Windex: SC Johnson found itself in hot water after claiming that the Windex bottles were made with 100% ocean plastic. The plastic SC Johnson actually used to make the bottles didn’t come from the ocean at all. It came from plastic banks in Indonesia, Haiti, and the Philippines.
This type of plastic is called “ocean-bound plastic” because a lot of it does wind up in the ocean. Still, it was never actually in the sea.
This might seem like a minor distinction, but the truth matters, especially in environmentalism and marketing. We should be able to trust corporations to tell the truth about where their ingredients originate and about their manufacturing practices.
5 Signs of Greenwashing
Greenwashing continues to evolve and become more challenging to spot. Here are five tell-tale signs to look for when spotting greenwashing.
1. Vague marketing language or false claims: This area receives the most complaints. Many advertising firms and companies have had advertisements banned due to false claims and vague language.
Look for a secondary, authoritative source of information that can back up the manufacturer’s claims.
2. Environmental buzzwords and images of nature: Be wary of phrases like “sustainable,” “green,” or “eco.” Many businesses use these words and phrases to appear more environmentally conscious.
Businesses must provide evidence to back up their marketing claims, especially when using images and buzzwords designed to give the impression of being environmentally friendly.
3. Hidden information: Fashion brands may tout their clothes made of “sustainable” fabrics and ignore the environmental impacts of the rest of their products. Many companies are even guilty of implying that all their products are environmentally sustainable while ignoring supply-chain emissions or other factors.
4. Carbon offsetting: Carbon offsetting is when a business, individual, or government attempts to balance their carbon emissions by finding ways to remove an equal amount of greenhouse gasses from the environment.
This might seem virtuous on the surface, but carbon offsetting doesn’t address the problem of cutting emissions and damaging practices. Additionally, carbon offsetting allows companies to claim they’re meeting emissions targets without curbing their actual emissions outputs.
5. A few eco-friendly products in a larger portfolio: Some companies may buy smaller brands with environmentally conscious products. The larger company can then market environmentally beneficial products while conveniently leaving out details about the harm being done by the rest of the products in their portfolio.
Look for companies that seek transparency about their overall environmental impact rather than details about specific products. If it’s difficult to find environmental information about a particular product, brand, or company, consider that a warning of potential greenwashing.
Overall, businesses that have something to hide or don’t have good overall environmental track records often make it difficult for consumers to check information or credentials.
How the FTC is Fighting Greenwashing
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is working hard to protect consumers and prevent greenwashing. The FTC has become more strict in recent years to enforce laws ensuring a competitive, fair marketplace where companies make honest claims in their production and marketing.
The FTC offers guidelines on spotting the differences between truly green products and those that are greenwashed.
- Each marketing claim should clearly specify whether it refers to the specific product, the packaging, the manufacturing, or just a portion of the product or package. There should be no guesswork.
- A marketing claim should not directly or implicitly overstate a product’s environmental benefits or attributes.
- If a product claims to offer a benefit that a competitor does not, those claims should be substantiated. In other words, you should be able to access information to verify any company’s claims about its product.
It can be challenging to spot greenwashing, and we all fall prey to it at one point or another. The easiest way to avoid it is to do your research to ensure that the entire company (not just a product) is committed to being eco-friendly in values and practice.
There is hope! We “vote” with our dollars. The more we support businesses and products that are genuinely committed to environmental sustainability, the more we incentivize other companies to adopt the same practices.
