Greenwashing

20 May 2024

There’s a good chance you’ve been a victim of greenwashing. I know I have. Greenwashers are like sneaky snakes ready to bite at your heel and without being informed about their strategies, you sit exposed right where they want you. So, let’s dive right in.

Greenwashing is the deceptive use of green marketing to convince consumers that an organisation, its policies, and its products are more sustainable than they are. It can also happen when a company emphasises some ways it practises social and environmental responsibility, in an attempt to draw attention away from the serious harm it really causes, e.g. a fast fashion brand donating a certain percentage of profits to charity, meanwhile its very business model contradicts the idea of sustainability by peddling consumerism. 

Greenwashing is a compound word modelled off the term ‘whitewash’ – you know, that lovely act of deliberately sweeping unpleasant truths under the proverbial carpet. We see this also in the way it takes away from concrete and credible solutions to tackle the climate crisis, instead promoting false ones. Bold ambition, trust, and action enable the systemic change needed to secure a climate-safe future, but this is only hindered by greenwashing misleading multiple stakeholders – consumers, investors, and the general public.

There are certain things that give greenwashing away. An obvious one is nature-based imagery (trees, ferns, animals) on packaging and in ads, despite the product or company taking no steps to protect the environment – think bottled water, for example. Most of the time, they’re more subtle than this though and require some reading between the lines.

I’m not a big fan of buzzwords. More often than not they’re terms which lose their true technical meanings and are used out of context. They also create ambiguity and a lack of substance to the point that I sometimes don’t understand what the idea being communicated actually is.

On the other hand, greenwashers love buzzwords. And they are used so often that they’re terms we associate with sustainability. Terms like ‘environmentally/eco-friendly’ and ‘natural’ are entirely redundant when being used to market products because there are no measures for these. Likewise, you can pass on consumer products that tell you they’re ‘green’ because claims like this are incredibly vague and usually lack evidence. ‘Chemical-free’ products are physically impossible too – all things are composed entirely of chemicals and energy. You can learn a few more greenwashing buzzwords here.

Another example that we often see is companies positioning a prominent recycling symbol or a quote like “please recycle” on the plastic packaging of their products, in an attempt to ease consumer guilt. There are three key issues with this. The first is that this imagery and language can make consumers feel like they are making a sustainable purchase. The second is that it removes responsibility from the company to reduce waste in its supply chain. And, thirdly, this shifts the responsibility for the waste created at the end of a product’s lifecycle onto consumers, rather than the company.

In the end, you can rest in knowing there are some ways to detect whether a product or company is truly sustainable – outside of taking all of the above into consideration. 

One of these is taking time to research and make an informed decision about products to purchase. Voting with your dollar is a very tangible thing you can do to support companies who use resources responsibly and reduce their emissions and waste. There are some legitimate certifications out there that can help with this – they verify a company’s claim to be sustainable through external audits. Among others, some to look out for include Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), Living Wage Employer, B Corporation, Fairtrade, and Environmental Choice (Aotearoa’s official ecolabel, certified by the Ministry for the Environment). We can’t always take these for granted, but they are a good start to ensuring there are some protections in place for the environment and the people who make the things we consume.

Considering the entire lifecycle of a product is another thing you can do. This begins at the sourcing of raw materials, to production, distribution, consumption, and eventually ends with disposal. There are social and environmental impacts occurring at each of these stages; but through being repeatedly told about the importance of recycling, we’re often entirely focused on the disposal stage only. 

Lastly, transparency and accountability are two of the biggest telltale signs that a company and its products are sustainable. Tracking progress towards commitments to reach net zero carbon emissions and other sustainability targets by sharing standardised and comparable data makes it easy for stakeholders outside of a company to assess its progress. It’s an instant win for consumers if a company shares evidence of how it is sustainable, rather than just stating what its policies are and being vague. 

Greenwashing is time-wasting, and in a world where our attention is already being grabbed at left, right, and centre, we just can’t afford to be fooled by it. Consumer NZ are doing some great things to combat greenwashing in Aotearoa and, in an effort to save the next person from falling into the trap, even provide an opportunity for you to submit examples you might find.