What is greenwashing, and how can you avoid it?
Brands are picking up on the public concern for climate change, and creating ‘eco-friendly’ products. How do you tell if it’s the real deal?
Greenwashing: ‘behaviour or activities that make people believe that a company is doing more to protect the environment than it really is’.
Over the past few years, the general public have become much more aware and much more passionate about climate change. People are changing their spending habits to be sustainable and environmentally friendly.
But companies are picking up on this too.
With people caring more about the environment, brands have realised that by slapping labels such as ‘green’ ‘carbon neutral’ ‘sustainably made’ ‘recycled’ or ‘eco-friendly’ on their products, they can appeal to this section of their public and gain customers. This means that we’re now surrounded by greenwashing, with companies claiming to have the environmental cause at the heart, simply to sell more products in a decidedly un-environmentally-friendly manner.
Sometimes it’s simply laughable. Car companies (like Toyota in the example below) claiming to have created a green model of their car, when around a quarter of all carbon emissions in the UK come from the transport industry. Fashion companies claiming to have created a sustainable range (H&M conscious collection, I’m looking at you) when we know the fast fashion industry is responsible for an abominable amount of waste and energy use.
But sometimes it’s incredibly difficult to know whether a brand truly has an environmental mission and is working on sustainability, or whether you’re being greenwashed.
Below you’ll find my three best tips for sussing out when brands are greenwashing you.
Before we get into it, it’s worth saying that the best way to shop sustainably is simple to reduce the amount that you buy, and opt for second-hand when you can. If you are buying first-hand, do your research and try to opt for smaller brands who genuinely place sustainability at the heart of what they do. Any mainstream high street brand which produces products en masse, and sell them as cheap as possible, is never going to be beneficial for the environment.
Making vague, unsubstantiated claims
Words like ‘natural’, ‘organic’, ‘earth-friendly’, ‘naked’, ‘pure’, ‘non-toxic’ all sound the part, and make you think you’re buying a product which is kind to the planet. In reality, though, brands can legally use this wording on any product. If they aren’t going further, and explaining exactly how or why their product fits these claims, then it’s best to assume it isn’t accurate.
This is also true of imagery. It’s easy to make a product seem eco-friendly by surrounding it by green colours and imagery of plants.
Also look out for comparative words, like the ‘greener’ in the ‘spreading smiles with greener miles’ advert for Toyota at the top of this post. Learn to question these comparisons: greener than what? It’s great for brands to be improving their environmental credentials, but if it’s the case that it’s just emitting 1% less emissions than the previous gas-guzzling model, then it isn’t indicative of real change.
Logos, awards, and certifications
This is similar to the previous point on wording, but it’s worth noting that brands can also create their own logos, awards, certifications etc. So if you see a logo or label stamped on a product which brands it as organic or sustainable, make sure it’s a legitimate certification which has been vetted by a reliable third-party, and not a self-created one.
One great resource for this is B Corporation. They’re an organisation which offer certification to businesses which pass their high standards for social and environmental performance and transparency in terms of their supply chain and processes as a business. The certification is rigorous, and you can be sure that if you buy from a B Corp, then you’re supporting a company working for change. Take a look at the B Corp directory and see if you could swap any of the brands you buy from regularly.
Having a token eco-friendly product
It’s common to see a company create a single sustainable product, or an eco-friendly range in the case of clothing brands. This single product or range sits in the shop, surrounded by the sea of other products which make no attempt to be sustainable.
So it’s worth asking yourself the question: what % of their collection of products is produced in an ethical and/or sustainable way?
In some cases, brands genuinely are making an attempt to increase this percentage, but in most cases it will be a pretty small percentage.
This seems to be especially true in the world of fashion. I’ve written before about the H&M conscious collection, which is marketed as good for the planet and for workers. In reality the range is only required to be made from 50% recycled materials, and it’s just one range in their whole, huge collection of mass-produced clothing. And given that the fashion industry is now responsible for 5% of global greenhouse gas emissions, the claims made about the conscious collection just aren’t reflective of reality.
When you look at the information about the conscious collection on H&M’s website, there’s also very little information there. Their ‘explanation’ of their product is minimal, and fails to explain why it’s sustainable at all. For something as complex as making a ‘sustainable’ item of fashionable clothing, I would expect more than two short paragraphs of explanation. Where does the material come from? How are the items made? Who is making them? Where are they made? How are they transported to stores? What energy is powering the factory machines? What happens to waste material?
H&M are certainly not the only one doing this; in fact it seems that most major brands now have some environmental claim within their marketing. But if it’s only a tiny portion of their full offering, and if the explanations do not seem adequate, then it probably isn’t an honest reflection of the reality of their production process. It’s probably just a way to drive profit.
