Greenwashing - What Is it?

Putting it gently, Greenwashing is an unethical practice done by corporations and companies that claim to be environmentally sustainable, mainly through marketing, when actually they’re not. Sadly, it’s not always that obvious. They are aware that the public won't support any type of conduct that harms the environment, so they will make you believe that everything is a-okay and continue selling you their products at nature's cost.

Facing an increasing demand from customers for eco-friendly solutions, businesses must now have in mind greener processes and policies that won’t stain themselves as they’ve been staining the planet, which might put many in a complicated position when it comes to profit. At this point, if you’re making the calls, you either choose the right thing to do or the classic dark side, am I right?

No. A vast majority prefers to find a commonground, which is where we stand with greenwashing! Here are some examples of how they usually throw the dust: 

• Coca-Cola: No surprise here, since they’re the champions of plastic pollution and, once upon a time, they’ve even added a little “snow” to the business. Turns out that they claim to be tackling the packaging waste, whilst refusing to abandon plastic bottles just because they’re unpopular with customers. Gladly, an environmental organisation called Earth Island Institute filed a lawsuit against them in 2021 for false advertisement!

• Volkswagen: This one was extremely bold to try to pull off, but they sure tried. While campaigning for low-emissions and eco-friendly features of its vehicles, Volkswagen was cheating emissions tests with engines that were actually emitting up to 40 times the limit allowed. Amazing.

• IKEA: An unexpected troublemaker of the worst kind since they were a fine example of sustainability among corporations. That is, before they were linked with illegal logging in Ukrainian forests. 

• BP: Beyond Petroleum, the fossil fuel giant, misled the public with advertisements on their low-carbon energy products, when in reality more than 96% of its annual spend is on oil and gas. Fortunately, they’ve been called on it by an environmental group called ClientEarth in 2019!

Being part of our daily line of work, this is a very serious issue that we, as a company, have to face and responsibly deal with. As consumers, being aware of these schemes and cues allows us to think better about our choices. At the end of the day, we have the last say, so let’s show them the right way to go about it!

We’ll soon learn more about the subject at hand and how to spot the con, so stay tuned and share the word!