A short guide to greenwashing

We’ve all heard the expression “whitewash”, right? The OED defines it as a deliberate concealment of… mistakes or faults. Greenwash is the same, but in an environmental context.

It’s greenwashing when a company or organisation spends more time and money claiming to be green through advertising and marketing than actually implementing practices that minimise their impact on the environment. It’s whitewashing, but with a green brush!

Greenwash (grēn’wŏsh’, -wôsh’) the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service.

One example might be changing the name or label of a product to give the feeling of nature, such as putting an image of a forest on a bottle containing harmful chemicals.

Six sins of greenwashing

In December 2007, environmental marketing company TerraChoice released a study called The Six Sins of Greenwashing which found that 99% of 1,018 common consumer products randomly surveyed for the study were guilty of greenwashing.

1. The sin of hidden trade-off
   For example, promoting a single green factor of a product without any attention to other issues.
2. The sin of no proof
   For example, claiming a product was not tested on animals but with no third party certification.
3. Sin of vagueness
   For example, poorly defined or overly broad claims such as “chemical free”.
4. Sin of irrelevance
   For example, a claim that may be true but is either unimportant or otherwise irrelevant.
5. Sin of fibbing
   For example, making claims of certification that are wholly false or untrue.
6. Sin of the lesser of two evils
   For example, a claim that may be true but distracts from greater environmental impacts.

How to combat greenwashing

So what can we do to combat greenwashing and ensure what we buy is genuinely green and environmentally-friendly if that’s what is stated.

• Certification
  There are a number of reputable organisations that certify products, such as The Soil Association in the UK, but some certification programmes are misleading so we need to learn which ones to trust.
• Regulation
  Government regulation provides some degree of protection against greenwashing although it is often in the form of voluntary guidelines and actions are rare compared to the number of cases that occur.
• Information
  There are a number of resources online providing information to help consumers identify and combat greenwashing. Check out Stop Greenwash for a more thorough explanation and evaluate the environmental claims of real advertisements at Greenwashing Index.

Tell us what you think

We’d love to hear your views on the subject of greenwashing. Who do you think are the worst offenders? How do you combat greenwashing? Read what others have said and join the debate by leaving your comments below.

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1. Green News Round-up #16

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