What is Greenwashing and How Do You Avoid It?
By Jaclyn Tracy
78% of Americans say it is important for companies to be environmentally responsible.
The rising consumer awareness around climate change and the negative effects of consumerism is increasing the pace of sustainability improvements being executed across businesses, however, it’s also increasing the pace of greenwashing.
What is greenwashing?
Greenwashing is when a company exaggerates or lies about the sustainability of its products or services. It gives the false impression of an environmental benefit, advantage, or eco-friendly practice. Greenwashing is a way to stay relevant without doing the actual work it takes to reduce the negative impact of business on the environment. It usually is presented to consumers in the form of marketing products or brands as “green” or “sustainable” while the company proceeds to engage in damaging activities.
The danger of greenwashing is that it can mislead well-intentioned consumers and hinder company advancements towards more sustainable or circular initiatives.
A Decades Old Practice
Although the concept of greenwashing has been used since the 1960’s by nuclear companies, the term was coined by environmentalist Jay Westerveld in 1986. At that time, the combination of limited public access to information and seemingly unlimited advertising enabled companies to present themselves as caring environmental stewards, even as they were engaging in environmentally unsustainable practices. (1)
How to Spot and Stop it
Being a modern consumer requires attention to detail and a critical eye. Some greenwashing claims are clearly unfounded, but others require research. Watch out for marketing that is rooted in vagueness and misdirection.
1. BE CAUTIOUS OF VAGUENESS AND UNREGULATED TERMS
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Green Guides provide guidelines to help responsible marketers avoid making environmental claims that mislead consumers.
“Marketers should not make broad, unqualified general environmental benefit claims like green or eco-friendly. Broad claims are difficult to substantiate, if not impossible. Claiming “Green, made with recycled content” may be deceptive if the environmental costs of using recycled content outweigh the environmental benefits of using it.” — FTC
So look for detail proceeding an environmental claim. If it says made with recycled materials, look at the percentage of recycled materials. Is it 100%? 75%? Or is it only 10%?
Also, look out for unregulated terminology such as natural. Natural means that the product is made of plant-based ingredients derived from nature. However, these ingredients can also be mixed with synthetic chemicals, or even processed into new things. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has stated if companies are going to make the claims ‘all natural’ or ‘100 percent natural,’ they can’t use synthetic ingredients.
2. LOOK FOR CERTIFICATIONS YOU TRUST
Environmental Certifications such as Climate-Neutral Certified, Rainforest Alliance, FSC (Forest Stewardship Council), Cradle to Cradle Certified, 1% for the Planet
Social Responsibility Certifications such as B-Corp Certified, Fair Trade Certified, Fairtrade, Leaping Bunny (Cruelty-Free)
Ingredient & Material Certifications such as MADE SAFE, EWG (Environmental Working Group) Verified, USDA Organic, GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard), OEKO-TEX Standard 100, EPA Safer Choice, USDA Certified BioBased Product
2. ASSESS TRANSPARENCY
Make sure that the company is communicating its sustainability efforts clearly. How much detail is this brand giving you about its environmental standards? Is the company being transparent about the progress they still need to make or setting clear goals, and when they plan to hit those goals? Do they tell you where the product is manufactured? What ingredients or materials make up the product? The more transparent a brand is about its environmental efforts, the less likely it’s engaging in any level of greenwashing.
3. EVALUATE THE BRAND’S OVERALL SUSTAINABILITY PRACTICES
Mission - is the company rooted in sustainability? How much detail do they give you on the subject of sustainability efforts?
Packaging - packaging tells you a lot about a company's efforts in the sustainability space. Does the packaging they ship with use compostable or recyclable materials? Is the packaging the product is contained in also made of recycled or plant-based materials?
Materials & Ingredients - are the products made of plant-based, recycled, upcycled materials or at a minumum plastic-free? Are they compostable? Recyclable? Biodegradable? Non-GMO or Organic?
Business Principals - A conscious company does not begin and end with it’s environmental efforts. Look for those companies that are certified B-Corporations. B-Corp Certified B Corporations are businesses that meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. Also, assess how a company talks about ethics, fair trade and give back programs.
4. ANALYZE THE PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE
This one is a little trickier. If you have time to do the research, assess the product from creation to disposal, the beginning of a product's life to the end of life. What is the impact of this product? What happens after you're done with the product? Within our marketplace, we list the end of life of each product to make the impact and disposal process more transparent. You can also shop our SISTAIN approved brands. These are brands and products operating with sustainable or circular methods of design, production and manufacturing processes that we’ve assessed based using third-party data, publicly available data, interviews and information requests by brands and their founders.
Do Your Part
When you spot greenwashing, reach out to that company directly. Hold them accountable.
There is a lot of noise to sift through when it comes to making decisions as a consumer. We exist to help you sift through that noise, to reduce the negative effects of consumerism by making living a sustainable lifestyle easier and more accessible to all humans. Because we believe there is a better, holistic, more sustainable lifestyle we can be living.
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(1) Bruce Watson (2016). The troubling evolution of corporate greenwashing. The Guardian.
