An Ordinary Human’s Guide To… Greenwashing

This series hopes to break down key sustainable terms and ideas to make them more accessible for everyone to understand and use to make change. If you are already are familiar with these ideas, refresh your mind and use your knowledge, but if this is new to you, read on and learn!

In a nutshell, Greenwashing is a process by which companies and organisations market their products and actions are more environmentally friendly than they actually are, usually to give the impression that they are acting on the climate emergency in order to engage our more environmentally conscious population. Greenwashing normally peaks around key environmental dates, such as Earth Day, by using these events as a marketing opportunity. In this post, I hope to help you understand when greenwashing is being used and how to avoid it.

Example: Some shops/companies have started selling ‘eco’ ranges, for instance New Look Kind, H&M Conscious and ASOS Responsible Edit. At first, it seems good that these companies are on board with sustainability and it shows a response to public awareness. But how sustainable is a practice when profit rules? Why are these eco products in small collections only, not the entirety of the stock, e.g. selling ‘recycled material’ T-shirts as well as newly made ones? Are these options not still prioritising consumption and the ‘new’ over reusing and reducing? Is this just a token gesture?

So what can you do to minimise the impact of greenwashing and encourage true action, if you do not own a company? Here are some tips:

• Be Critical – When confronted with environmental claims, always question them first. Where has this claim come from? Is it being applied to the whole organisation, or just their new ‘eco’ collection? How sustainable is it really, if sustainability means being able to be maintained for a long time without further degradation and destruction to our planet and people?
• Partnerships – Has the brand partnered with a known/official collaborator, such as a charity or environmental organisation? For instance, if clothes claim to use responsibly sourced cotton, is that backed up by the Better Cotton Initiative (Home – Better Cotton Initiative). If the company wants to tackle marine plastic pollution, are they working with an organisation in that sector, e.g. the Marine Conservation Society (Marine Conservation Society | Home (mcsuk.org)).
• Chose truly sustainable over ‘eco’ marketed products – For example, a supermarket may swap from plastic to paper carrier bags in an effort to reduce plastic pollution, but how has that paper been produced and what has been its environmental impact? In this instance you are better off choosing a type of bag and using it over and over again. Additionally, you could just repair an item of clothing instead of buying new, regardless of its claims. Or make a curry out of seasonal vegetables instead of using manufactured artificial meat. The choice is yours.

Hopefully you now feel better equipped to recognise greenwashing in action, know how to critique it and know who is genuine and who making unsubstantiated claims. As the consumer, you have the power to decide what products and what information you consume. If more people are educated regarding greenwashing, the process may become inefficient, and companies may be forced to prove the claims they are making, leading us towards better, more substantial change. 💚