So many people these days are more conscious of what they’re buying and the impact they have on the planet that they are actively searching for ethical and eco-friendly products and services. According to the Co-ops Ethical Consumerism Report ethical expenditure increased to over £41 billion in 2019 from £11.2 billion in 1999. As is normally the case there are many companies trying to take advantage of this movement for their own financial gain.
Not only are environmentally conscious products often more expensive than their non eco-friendly counterparts, some companies sell products which they imply, or outright claim, are eco-friendly when this is far from the truth. The “International Consumer Protection Enforcement Network (ICPEN) has revealed a worrying 40% of all ‘eco-friendly’ claims could be misleading consumers. This year’s search was conducted by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the UK and the equivalent body in the Netherlands.” – Marine Conservation Society.
This is greenwashing, and in my opinion it’s one of the major problems the green movement is facing at the moment.
Definition of Greenwashing
“behaviour or activities that make people believe that a company is doing more to protect the environment than it really is” – Cambridge Dictionary
“expressions of environmentalist concerns especially as a cover for products, policies, or activities” – Merriam-Webster
Basically greenwashing is the practise of making a product or company appear more eco-friendly than it actually is. We see words like ‘natural’ or ‘green’ as a brand name or on the description of a product and we assume, quite understandably, that the product is not as harmful to the environment than an alternative.
However, posting a picture of a wind farm, or saying something uses only natural ingredients doesn’t mean the product or company is helping the environment in any way. Natural ingredients include formaldehyde and mercury and I’m not sure anyone thinks they are good for you. Cashew nuts are a popular natural product but they can cause serious harm to the workers due to the corrosive liquid present when they are shelled. Although a company may be telling the truth by saying their product contains only natural ingredients, the implication is that this is not harmful to you, other people or the environment, when that is not always the case.
Common Greenwashing Techniques
Meaningless ‘Eco-Friendly’ Claims
For example, if a company were to claim that their aerosols were ‘CFC free’ this is totally irrelevant as there has been a worldwide ban on CFC’s (Chloroflourocarbons) since a treaty was signed in 1987. (There has recently been an increase of CFC’s in the atmosphere which has been traced to China, but that’s another story.)
Misdirection
Holland and Barrett claims “We send zero waste to landfill” and while this might be true for their shops and offices, the amount of plastic packaging and unrecyclable materials they sell in their stores means that their customers are sending lots of waste to landfill.
It would be remiss of me not to mention that they also say: “We plan to cut out the use of all single use plastics by 2022 (…) Over the next two years, we will replace all our plastic Beauty packaging with glass, aluminium, and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) approved cardboard. Our Sports and Vitamins, Supplements and Minerals packaging will also change to clear PET. All these materials are easily recycled by all local authorities in the UK.”
Although they say they are aiming to cut the use of all single use packaging this does seem to make the claim of zero waste to landfill untrue as they admit their products currently contain packaging that can’t be recycled and therefore must end up in landfill. They are just shifting responsibility on the consumer, but trying to make themselves sound eco-conscious.
Eco Trade-Off
Sainsburys state that “Plastic film on fruit and vegetables will be replaced with a recyclable alternative (2518 tonnes) by end 2020”. While this sounds great, they are still replacing one single use item with another. Yes, it’s better that the alternative will be recyclable, but it’s still waste that has to be dealt with.
Another example from Sainsbury’s is their trial of “precycling”. “A ‘pre-cycle’ area will be trialed in stores for customers to remove unwanted packaging and leave it for recycling”. Sounds great that customers can get rid of unwanted packaging, but the packaging still exists and it still has to be disposed of.
Producing the packaging, and then recycling the packaging all takes resources and energy. Why not just sell items without the packaging in the first place?
Vagueness
We’ve all seen these terms on numerous products ‘Compostable’ & ‘Biodegradable’. Two words which give the impression that something is eco-friendly when it’s not as clear-cut as it seems. I’d always assumed that if something was compostable I could add it to my compost heap at home, however this is rarely true.
Recycle for Greater Manchester explains this very well:
“No matter what’s on the label, compostable or biodegradable cups, straws and plates can’t go in your food and garden bin.”
“Biodegradable items can break down within the environment with the help of bacteria or other living organisms. But this doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good for the planet. For example, some plastic bags can biodegrade into tiny pieces in around 20 years but they are still harmful to the environment.”
“Meanwhile, if something is compostable, it means it is made of organic matter and it can completely break down to make nutrient rich compost. So if all these things say they are compostable, why can’t I recycle them in my food and garden bin? They may be made from natural materials, and therefore compostable, but compostable coffee cups take years to breakdown”
Outright Lying
Although this is less common, some companies will claim that their product is certified in some way, when they do not have the certification. For example someone might use the Leaping Bunny logo on a product when they have no right to do so. If you are concerned that a company is lying about an endorsement or certification visit the website of the endorsing company as they will usually have a list of all the companies that do have valid certification or that they do endorse. If you don’t see any mention of the company you’re concerned about you could contact the certifying organisation for clarification.
Examples of Greenwashing
Who Is Greenwashing?
In addition to some of the greenwashing examples mentioned above the following companies or organisations could also be described as using Greenwashing techniques.
Tesco
One of the most recent examples of this is Tesco who ran social media ads saying they support a Greenpeace campaign encouraging people to eat less meat and asking companies to stop supporting Amazon deforestation with the suppliers they use.
Greenpeace – 7 reasons why meat is bad for the environment
“Meat – or more specifically, ‘industrial meat’ – is bad for the planet.
The vast majority of meat bought in the UK is produced in intensive factory farms. These farms are part of a destructive global system of mass-produced industrial meat and dairy.
The industrial meat system requires a huge amount of land to sustain itself. Forests, particularly in South America, are deliberately slashed and burned every year to graze cattle and grow enough crops to feed billions of farmed animals.”
Greenpeace – Tesco’s deforestation claims are misleading the public
“Most soya is sold by giant traders on a global market – and about 90% of it goes into animal feed.
The problem is that these traders don’t offer a separate supply of soya from sustainable farms. The good stuff and the bad stuff is all mixed together. That means Tesco and other companies basically have no idea where their soya came from, or how it was grown.
To get around this, companies buy ‘credits’. This involves paying money to sustainable farming projects for every tonne of ‘who knows where this came from’ soya they buy. So when Tesco say ‘zero deforestation through certification’, this just means they’re paying to ignore their contribution to the problem. Supporting sustainable farming is no bad thing, but it’s not the same as stopping deforestation.
So while Tesco may not buy meat from Brazil, much of the chicken and pork on their shelves is fed on Brazilian soya, and produced by companies owned by Amazon rainforest destroyers.”
The UK Government
The UK has declared a climate emergency, so some of the things they’re allowing to happen seem incredibly odd.
If we’ve declared a climate emergency why has the Cumbrian Coal mine been given the go-ahead*? Why are we spending £93 million on new roads, shouldn’t we be encouraging people to use their cars less? Why, especially during a pandemic as well as a climate emergency, were the Government encouraging people to go back to the office when they should have been making working from home easier?
*Thankfully, there may be good news in this regard – “Cumbria County Council says it will reconsider the planning application for a controversial coal mine in the light of “new information” from the UK’s independent climate advisers.” – The Independent. At this point they’re only reconsidering and I’m not sure what ‘new information’ they received to give them the idea that a new coal mine was a bad idea when it’s clear it was a bad idea right from the offset.
Don’t be fooled into thinking it’s only the UK Government who are making the right noises but not following through, Governments around the world are equally as guilty of this.
Banks
Let’s take HSBC as an example, but many banking institutions employ similar tactics. HSBC has a sustainability page with information about their climate plan, and they talk about all the awards they’ve received for sustainability.
Their climate plan has three elements:
- Support our portfolio of customers to make the transition
- Unlock climate solutions and innovation
- Transform HSBC into a net zero bank
On the HSBC investors page they have images which imply sustainable practises.
They appear to be doing all the right things, but according to The Ethical Consumer they also have shareholdings in a lot of companies that couldn’t in any way be described as sustainable. Thankfully we can all choose more ethical banks so that we aren’t a part of this.
Greenwashing or Not?
Shell Energy
If you visit the Shell Energy website it’s full of information about how they supply 100% renewable electricity. But if you look into these claims further you realise that this might be clever marketing and a company taking advantage of the green movement. This one is therefore a bit more complicated. My feeling is that claiming they provide 100% renewable energy is just not honest. What they actually do is buy REGO certificates from renewable energy suppliers.
“Our renewable electricity is certified by Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin (REGOs), which means that all of the electricity you buy from us is matched with the equivalent amount of units from 100% renewable sources in the UK.”
“REGO certificates are issued by Ofgem, who manage the Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin (REGO) scheme. They prove that a unit of electricity has been generated from a renewable source, including wind, solar, biomass etc. They provide transparency to consumers about the proportion of electricity that suppliers source from renewable generation.”
The Good Energy website explains how this is not really renewable energy.
“All they have to do is buy surplus REGOs from suppliers who have already used this power to supply their customers. It’s little more than an accounting trick and, hidden somewhere amongst the smoke and mirrors, is the reality that some customers aren’t getting what they think they’re paying for. It’s a loophole, and an incredibly cheap one at that — the current price for a REGO is ~£0.35/MWh, or £1 per customer per year; to put this into context this is 0.1% of an annual bill.
Or, in order to ‘green’ all 700,000 of Shell Energy’s customers’ electricity bills, about 0.005% of Shell’s 2018 £16bn profits.”
Check out the UK’s most eco-friendly energy suppliers.
How To Avoid Greenwashing
Companies in all areas of business take part in greenwashing, even Governments. So how do we avoid it?
Check the company website
When you want to check out a company’s ‘green’ / ethical credentials firstly look for the following pages on their website:
- A sustainability page
- Policy on animal testing
- Modern Slavery Statement
- Their tax policy
Having these pages isn’t enough though. Don’t be fooled and make sure you read what they’re saying carefully.
Read the ingredients
Saying something is 80% natural is meaningless if the other 20% is made up of toxic and harmful chemicals. Always check the ingredients.
Look for Certifications
Look for the Fairtrade logo, Leaping Bunny logo etc. In the UK it’s unlikely that certifications are going to be untrue, but you can always double check by searching the website of the organisation that provides the certification.
I think the major thing you should take away from this article is to never take anything at face value and to always do your research, especially if you’re looking into new investments, a new energy supplier, or a new bank.
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