Unmasking the Illusion: What is Greenwashing?
Welcome to the realm of complete deceit, where companies proudly display their seemingly sustainable endeavors and all products are governed by eco- friendly legislations. Now is the moment to lift the veil of deceit and expose the layers that conceal the real behind the emerald-tinted curtains. The reality differs from what a qualified business researcher Dr. Becker-Olsen et al, who stated that “Greenwashing refers to the practice of falsely promoting an organization’s environmental efforts or spending more resources to promote the organization as green than are spent to actually engage in environmentally sound practices.” This observation epitomizes the dishonesty of greenwashing—the practice of businesses pretending to be environmentally conscious while, in reality, they are not taking any positive environmental actions. Certain companies employ deceptive strategies in an attempt to undermine customer confidence and impede the shift toward a greener society. This statement emphasizes the difference between words and deeds and stresses the value of integrity, accountability, and environmental responsibility in business. (Dr. Becker-Olsen et al, p1).
Greenwashing as a whole defies the credibility and integrity of different companies. In order to present a favorable picture of the environment, it entails the distribution of inaccurate or misleading information. This can involve making inflated claims about how environmentally friendly a product is, using dishonest labeling, or leaving out harmful effects on the environment from marketing materials. Although, in the midst of all the green projects that are popping up, the dishonest act of greenwashing is still apparent. The practice of deceiving customers into thinking that a business or its products are more ecologically friendly than they actually are is known as ‘greenwashing’.
In this day of widespread access to information, especially through social media, there are many organizations that monitor society. Due to this, businesses are under tremendous pressure to make sure they are carrying out their environmental responsibilities in a responsible and clean manner in order to safeguard the planet. In the Business News Daily interview, Deandra comments on greenwashing and states “That it is intended to help corporations to deceive their consumers into thinking that they are holding up to their ‘corporate social responsibility’ and their main focus to ensure that on a ‘surface level… they make themselves look good.” (Edwards and Deandra, para 21). This demonstrates how greenwashing is an ineffective approach to ensuring that environmental sustainability practices rule the way businesses deliver their services. (Edawards, 2024).
There are different forms of greenwashing. University College of Estate Management published an article that explains 8 different branches of greenwashing. This includes: ‘ Green but vague language’, ‘misleading or false data’, ‘greenlighting’, ‘greenhushing’, ‘Greenrinsing’, ‘greenshifting’, ‘greencrowding’ and ‘deceptive imagery’ (UCEM, para 4). Customers are more inclined to support companies that demonstrate a commitment to sustainability and environmental friendliness, which makes these branches easily depictable in the current world of heightened environmental consciousness, where our wild life is being slaughtered and the global eco-system is collapsing before our very eyes. Consequently, consumers may use greenwashing as a method of evaluation to hold businesses responsible for their promises. In the words of Ruiz who is a Human Resource Manager based in Los Angeles, claims that “Products marketed as sustainable grew 2.7x faster than those that were not”. (Ruiz, Figure 1). This is one of the reasons why big businesses strive to portray themselves as reputable environmental saviors that are attempting to meet customer demands while simultaneously fulfilling their social obligations. Historically, this was not needed as there was not much accessible knowledge and awareness to the issue such as there is now through different media sources as ‘the media can play a strong supervisory role on the companies by exposing the symbolic environmental behavior of the company’ (Wang et al, para 3). According to a survey that was recently done by the Harvard Business Review, 65% said they want to buy purpose-driven brands that advocate sustainability, yet only about 26% do so”. (Katherine et al, para 1). As a result, they keep reinforcing the illusion for the purpose of gaining money.
On the other hand, “greenwashing,” or the act of embellishing or falsifying environmental initiatives, is often portrayed as a pervasive issue, although its significance is exaggerated. Deceptive statements are effectively discouraged by strict rules, heightened customer awareness, and the potential impact to a company’s image. Moreover, concentrating on sincere sustainability projects in cutthroat marketplaces fosters an authentic culture. Recognizing and promoting progress toward sustainability is crucial, even as we acknowledge the significance of vigilance. Thus, it makes sense that brands are operating at an incremental pace in an effort to change the world without giving up the majority of their revenue.
While acknowledging the need for vigilance in identifying and handling cases of greenwashing, it is imperative that we recognize and celebrate the progress achieved in the direction of sustainability. In actuality, a lot of businesses are running at an incremental rate in order to have a positive influence without jeopardizing their financial security. These include things like lowering carbon emissions, putting in place sustainable sourcing practices, and providing money for renewable energy initiatives. This is reiterated in an article published by Raconteur which states that “there’s a difference between deceptive disinformation and taking a small step in the direction of sustainability.” (Gerner, 2020, para 3). Because of this, we must evaluate the act’s progressiveness and be appreciative for the little steps being done in its direction, even as we begin to wonder if anything can really be considered “green” or environmentally friendly.
This is exemplified in the fast-fashion industry; an article from The Observer states that H&M are an example of a company that employs greenwashing as a marketing strategy as they advertise that “39,000 tons of recycled garments have been collected by H&M Group since 2013 and that 96 percent of electricity in all of their operations comes from renewable sources.” (Silver, Para 2). Whilst all this is true, the same article also mentions that shipping and producing the clothing sold the company still is causing detrimental effect to the environment. Thus, bringing us to question whether it is fair that the progressiveness of the brand in pursuing environmentally friendly actions can be denounced because they are not 100% sustainable. Greenwashing has in this case, motivated H&M to become more environmentally friendly as a brand and the mass scrutiny that lies behind the term has created an initiative in the fashion world to help the environment and to carry out their social responsibility. It is unjust to negatively scrutinize when complete sustainability can potentially be unobtainable.
All things considered, we recognize that there are several ways that greenwashing can occur, including the use of ambiguous language, misleading information, deceptive imagery, and meaningless gestures. These tactics are employed to hide the true environmental effects of goods and services, which leads to a loop of misleading information and dissatisfied customers. However, in spite of the profusion of sustainability initiatives and green projects, the dishonest practice of “greenwashing” persists and threatens genuine sustainability efforts.
As a result of investigating the pervasive issue of “greenwashing,” which is a phrase used to describe an act in which companies falsely promote their environmental initiatives in order to give the appearance that they are ecologically benign while, in reality, they are engaged in unsustainable activities. We have discovered that in the pursuit of ecological accountability, there is a focus on the discrepancy between stated intentions and actual actions. Greenwashing is widespread, although it is effectively discouraged by consumer scrutiny, stringent regulations, and sincere sustainable efforts. Furthermore, we can now recognize the need of acknowledging the incremental progress made towards sustainability and the need to combat greenwashing by recognizing the substantial impact that greenwashing has on encouraging businesses to adopt more sustainable practices.
In conclusion, the problem of “greenwashing” has spread due to growing environmental consciousness. The term “greenwashing” describes the dishonest marketing strategies used by businesses to give the impression that they are environmentally conscious while really participating in actions that go against their stated beliefs. More stricter rules, independent certifications, and knowledgeable and astute customers are all contributing to the growing exposure of greenwashing. Greenwashing is becoming less successful as consumers want more responsibility and openness from businesses. This makes it easier to put real sustainability measures into action and encourages ethical businesses to give environmental issues real priority.
Work Cited:
“8 Types of Greenwashing (and How to Spot Them).” University College of Estate Management, 23 Oct. 2023, www.ucem.ac.uk/whats-happening/articles/8-types-of-greenwashing-and-how-to-spot-them/. Accessed 17 Mar. 2024.
Becker-Olsen, Karen, and Sean Potucek. “Encyclopedia of Corporate Social Responsibility.” SpringerLink, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2013, link.springer.com/referencework/10.1007/978-3-642-28036-8. Accessed 17 Mar. 2024.
Edwards, Carlyann. “What Is Greenwashing, and How Do You Spot It?” Business News Daily, 12 Jan. 2024, www.businessnewsdaily.com/10946-greenwashing.html. Accessed 17 Mar. 2024.
Gerner, Marina. “Is Greenwashing Always a Bad Thing?” Raconteur, 11 Nov. 2022, www.raconteur.net/climate-crisis/greenwashing-really-bad. Accessed 16 Mar. 2024.
Ruiz, Arabella. “52 Huge Environmentally Conscious Consumer Statistics 2024.” The Round Up, 22 Dec. 2022, theroundup.org/environmentally-conscious-consumer-statistics/. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.
Silver, Dena. “H&M Has a Pretty Sustainability Push-but Is It Just Greenwashing?” Observer, Word Press VIP, 27 Mar. 2018, observer.com/2018/03/hm-sustainability-conscious-exclusive-collection/. Accessed 17 Mar. 2024.
Wang, Wei, et al. “(PDF) How Does Multi‐agent Govern Corporate Greenwashing? A …” Wiley Online Library, 10 Aug. 2022, www.researchgate.net/publication/362605374_How_does_multi-agent_govern_corporate_greenwashing_A_stakeholder_engagement_perspective_from_common_to_collaborative_governance. Accessed 17 Mar. 2024.
