Greenwashing
Presented by Challenge Your World
2000 McGill College Ave., Suite 230, Montreal (Quebec) H3A 3H3 CANADA
Telephone: (514) 875-3211
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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
www.challengeyourworld.com

A note on sources...
1. Enviromedia
2. Terrachoice
3. Futerra
www.challengeyourworld.com

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
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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
www.challengeyourworld.com

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
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One in ten consumers blindly
trust labels
Enviromedia www.challengeyourworld.com

30% of consumers say they
can‟t tell if green product
claims are true
Enviromedia www.challengeyourworld.com

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

Types of greenwashing
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

Types of greenwashing
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

Types of greenwashing
And by the way...
http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/brand.php?brand_id=4714&nothanks=1 www.challengeyourworld.com

Types of greenwashing
What‟s the message?
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

Types of greenwashing
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

Types of greenwashing
What‟s the message?
http://stopgreenwash.org/ad/32
www.challengeyourworld.com

Types of greenwashing
Suggestive pictures
http://stopgreenwash.org/ad/32
Pictures are worth a thousand words,
but still need to be justified www.challengeyourworld.com

Types of greenwashing
What‟s the message?
www.challengeyourworld.com

Types of greenwashing
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
www.challengeyourworld.com

Types of greenwashing
What‟s the message?
www.challengeyourworld.com

Types of greenwashing
“Best in class”
• The questionable
distinction of being the
best in a class of
underachievers
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Types of greenwashing
What‟s the message?
www.challengeyourworld.com

Types of greenwashing
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
www.challengeyourworld.com

Types of greenwashing
What‟s the message?
• Using explanations or terms that
consumers don‟t understand
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Types of greenwashing
Gobbledygook
Jargon or text that
only a scientist could
check or understand
But at least it has a layperson explanation
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ISO 14001
There are many
recognized global labels...
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Types of greenwashing
Imaginary friends
• But some
companies are
using labels or
claims that look
like 3rd party
endorsement
that are not well
explained.
www.challengeyourworld.com

Types of greenwashing
What‟s the message?
www.challengeyourworld.com

Types of greenwashing
No proof
• Unsupported
claims
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Types of greenwashing
Out-right lying
• False claims
• Printing certification logos
without permission
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Types of greenwashing
What‟s the message?
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/biomass/ www.challengeyourworld.com

Types of greenwashing
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
www.challengeyourworld.com

What can be done
• International regulation
• Third party certification
• Consumer awareness
• Reporting suspected greenwashing to an
overseeing body
• Education of advertising producers
www.challengeyourworld.com

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
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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>
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