What is Greenwashing?

Greenwashing
Presented by Challenge Your World
2000 McGill College Ave., Suite 230, Montreal (Quebec) H3A 3H3 CANADA

Telephone: (514) 875-3211
www.challengeyourworld.com

Contents

1. The what, who, where, why and when of
greenwashing
2. Impact
3. Types of greenwashing
4. What can be done
5. How NOT to greenwash
6. Resources


A note on sources...

1. Enviromedia

2. Terrachoice

3. Futerra


What is greenwashing?

• The act of misleading consumers
regarding the environmental practices of a
company or the environmental benefits of
a product or service.*

• Generally refers to environmental issues

* Widely cited including: Greenpeace & Terrachoice www.challengeyourworld.com

Who does it?

• Companies
• Organizations
• People


Where is it found?

• Global phenomenon
• Advertisements, packaging, products,
websites, emails, speeches, videos...
• “Kids (toys & baby products), cosmetics
and cleaning products are the three
categories where green claims – and
greenwashing – are most common.”
Terrachoice, P. i


Why they do it?

of surveyed consumers buy green
products and services
Enviromedia www.challengeyourworld.com

When: A brief history
1960‟s First becomes an issue with the growing
environmental and anti-nuclear movements
1969 Public utilities spend over $300 million on
advertising – over 8x expenditure on actual
anti-pollution work

1970 The inaugural Earth day
1990 Transnational companies realize that
environmental image affects consumer
spending habits
1999 „Greenwashing‟ officially enters the English
language (Oxford English Dictionary)

Corpwatch and Futerra www.challengeyourworld.com

Impacts of greenwashing
• Redirects well-intentioned purchase
power
• Confuses and misleads the consumer
• Makes consumers sceptical of all „green‟
products
• Genuinely sustainable companies suffer
But...
• It does help reinforce the message of
being environmentally friendly

One in ten consumers blindly
trust labels


30% of consumers say they
can‟t tell if green product
claims are true


Types of greenwashing
1. Fluffy language 7. Imaginary friends
2. Green products, 8. No proof
dirty company
9. Outright lying
3. Suggestive pictures
10. Hidden trade-offs
4. Irrelevant claims
11. Just not credible /
5. Gobbledygook lesser of 2 evils
6. Best in class?

Futerra & Terrachoice www.challengeyourworld.com


What‟s the message?

• Vague language and buzz words that
don‟t actually mean anything and don‟t
have an accompanying explanation.
• Examples:
o Green
o Environmentally friendly
o Natural

http://www.chartreuseproducts.com/ www.challengeyourworld.com


Fluffy Language

• Vague language and buzz words that
don‟t actually mean anything and don‟t
have an accompanying explanation.

•
• Examples: and buzz
Vague language
o Green
words that don‟t actually
o Environmentally friendly
mean anything and don‟t
o an accompanying
haveNatural
explanation.
http://www.chartreuseproducts.com/ www.challengeyourworld.com


And by the way...

http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/brand.php?brand_id=4714&nothanks=1 www.challengeyourworld.com



http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/STAGING/global_assets/
e_s_assets/e_s_assets_2008/downloads/bp_sustainability_review_2008.pdf www.challengeyourworld.com


Green products, dirty company

• Good products
don‟t necessarily Why is only around 5% of BP’s capital
mean good investment in alternative energy?

processes or Today the vast majority of our returns come from
oil and gas and they are likely to continue to do so.
company values However, we also invest a significant amount in
alternative energy technology compared with our
peers and, for us, the key question is which
technologies will make the greatest contribution to
meeting energy demand while providing BP with
strong growth businesses.

http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/STAGING/global_assets/
e_s_assets/e_s_assets_2008/downloads/bp_sustainability_review_2008.pdf www.challengeyourworld.com



http://stopgreenwash.org/ad/32



Suggestive pictures

http://stopgreenwash.org/ad/32

Pictures are worth a thousand words,
but still need to be justified www.challengeyourworld.com


Irrelevant claims

• A true claim that
does not help
the consumer to
know which
products are
environmentally All products must be CFC free
by law: this is not a
superior
differentiating factor



“Best in class”

• The questionable
distinction of being the
best in a class of
underachievers



Just not credible / lesser of two evils

True claims within the product category, but risk
distracting the consumer from the greater impacts
of the product category



• Using explanations or terms that
consumers don‟t understand



Gobbledygook

Jargon or text that
only a scientist could
check or understand

But at least it has a layperson explanation

ISO 14001

There are many
recognized global labels...



Imaginary friends

• But some
companies are
using labels or
claims that look
like 3rd party
endorsement
that are not well
explained.



No proof

• Unsupported
claims



Out-right lying

• False claims
• Printing certification logos
without permission




http://www1.eere.energy.gov/biomass/ www.challengeyourworld.com


Hidden trade-offs

• Suggesting a
product is „green‟
based on an
unreasonably
narrow set of
attributes

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2007/
10/ethanol-effect-when-alternative-fuels-go-bad

What can be done

• International regulation
• Third party certification
• Consumer awareness
• Reporting suspected greenwashing to an
overseeing body
• Education of advertising producers


How NOT to greenwash

• Know the truth about your products and
services over the entire lifecycle
• Educate any company member that
communicates externally
• Be clear about claims and back them up
with valid third party certifications or
publically available evidence
• Tell the truth


Resources
• Terrachoice Environmental Marketing, “The seven sins of greenwashing”.
2009. <http://sinsofgreenwashing.org/findings/greenwashing-report-2009/>

• Futerra Sustainability Communications, “The Greenwash Guide”. 2008.
<http://www.futerra.co.uk/services/greenwash-guide>

• Enviromedia Social marketing, “Top Line of Findings from 2009 National
Green Buying Study”. <http://www.enviromedia.com/news-item.php?id=688>

• Greenpeace, <www.greenpeace.org>

• Corpwatch, <http://www.corpwatch.org>

• The Co-operative bank, “Ethical consumer report”. 2008.
<http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/Portals/0/Downloads/ETHICAL%20CONSU
MER%20REPORT.pdf>

• The greenwash report, <http://www.greenwashreport.org>

• Ecolabelling ,<http://www.ecolabelling.org>


What is Greenwashing?

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