GreenDeal 101 is our series of blog articles written specifically to help newcomers to the Green scene understand some of the terminology and issues in the world of sustainability.
No, greenwashing is not doing your dishes with an eco-friendly liquid.
Greenwashing is the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service. This is especially relevant, as new ‘green’ products seem to appear almost daily. Furthermore, the issues of what defines ‘green’, and what we can do about it are constantly developing. So how do we identify what’s green and what’s greenwashing?
One of the best definitions I’ve encountered comes from environmental marketing agency TerraChoice. It’s actually a list of definitions they call the ‘7 Sins of Greenwashing’: (reprinted with permission)
1. Sin of the Hidden Trade-off – Suggesting a product is ‘green’ based on an unreasonably narrow set of attributes. (Or one small one)
2. Sin of No Proof – An environmental claim that cannot be substantiated by easily accessible supporting information or a third-party certification.
3. Sin of Vagueness – Claims that are so poorly defined or broad that their real meaning is likely to be misunderstood by the consumer. For instance, ‘All natural’ isn’t necessarily ‘green’.
4. Sin of Irrelevance – An environmental claim that may be truthful but is unimportant or unhelpful for consumers seeking environmentally preferable products. ‘CFC-free’ is a common example, since it is a frequent claim despite
the fact that CFCs are banned by law.
5. Sin of Lesser of Two Evils – Claims that may be true within the product category but that risk distracting the consumer from the greater environmental impacts of the category (eg, organic cigarettes)
6. Sin of Fibbing, (fortunately, the least frequent sin) – Environmental claims
that are simply false.
7. Sin of Worshipping False Labels – The imitation of third-party certification with fake labels or false claims of third-party endorsement.
All in all, they create a pretty stringent list of checkpoints for green marketing claims, so don’t be discouraged if some of your favourite brands fall short on a few points. Just use them as a guide to judge for yourself what greenwashing means. Then provide feedback to the companies and products you think need it and be part of changing green marketing for the better. London Drugs carries a LOT of products, and the team behind What’s the Green Deal does its best to analyze and report green product claims fairly. But if you discover a product you think is greenwashing, please let them know. The more we all do to let manufacturers know we want as much transparency as possible, the greener things will get.
