Tips For Conscious Consumers On Greenwashing And How To Avoid It
Businesses are finally starting to take responsibility for their impact and listen to the environmental values of their customers. While some are genuinely trying their best to do the right thing for the planet, others are taking advantage of their customer’s trust and goodwill: they’re greenwashing them.
In this blog post I will explain what greenwashing is, teach you ways to avoid greenwashing, elaborate on how greenwashing can be stopped, discuss exciting examples of governments stepping up to ban greenwashing, and share Eco Choice Aotearoa’s principles and certification process so you can use this eco label to help you make better choices.
So you don’t feel ironically greenwashed after reading this blog post, I’ll be clear. This blog is sponsored by Eco Choice Aotearoa. Eco Choice Aotearoa asked me to write this blog to help you cut through the rampant greenwashing in Aotearoa (a recent survey by EY found 55% of Kiwis said misleading information was preventing them from shopping sustainably).
What is Greenwashing?
Greenwashing is essentially what it sounds like; when a company uses green words and activities to metaphorically cover their brand in ‘green’ and fool the public into thinking they are doing more for the environment than they really are. It’s when a company spends more money on a marketing campaign to let the public know they’re ‘going green’ than on the actual environmental initiative. Greenwashing describes misleading information and wishy-washy words that take advantage of the well meaning public. Whether the greenwashing is an honest mistake and a business simply hasn't done their homework, or if it’s a calculated marketing tactic, greenwashing sucks. Greenwashing makes it harder for sustainable companies to stand out and more likely for consumers to give up their sustainable living intentions because they’re scared of being tricked.
Green washing is not to be mistaken with small steps.
Even though we’re in the middle of a greenwashing pandemic, I often see the term ‘greenwashing’ misused. There is a difference between greenwashing and trying. Greenwashing is not the right term to throw at a company when they start sustainable initiatives, launch their first sustainability report, and begin changing parts of their company to lessen their impact on the environment even though they may still have a long way to go to properly own the sustainability flag.
Identifying greenwashing and learning how to avoid it is important. It’s also crucial that we do not misuse the word. When it’s misused, businesses become less inclined to attempt sustainable practices and make positive change because they’re too scared of people pointing fingers at them and yelling ‘greenwashing’. Instead of trying, they stay clear of sustainability altogether! We need to encourage all businesses, especially the horribly unsustainable corporations, to make sustainable changes while holding grace and patience with the understanding that they will not be able to make every change overnight.
How do I avoid being greenwashed?
My three key strategies:
Watch out for the use of unregulated terms like 'green' 'eco-friendly' ‘natural’ ‘chemical free’ or 'planet friendly' that have no certifications, standards or testing required to earn or use them. Any company can throw these terms on their product labelling without reason and most of these words don’t actually mean anything (for example, cyanide is ‘natural’ and water is a chemical!). If these words are listed, ask the company what evidence they have to support their claims.
A lack of transparency is a red flag. Brands who have gone through the effort to produce their goods or services in a sustainable or ethical way are proud of it and want you to know. If a brand is not willing to offer information, it's best to give it a miss or ask further questions.
Ask yourself: am I buying this because of the green packaging or because it’s actually sustainable? Packaging and logos that use green designs, colours or symbols but have no certifications or explanations are sneaky.
Note: I know this sounds overwhelming when you think of the amount of brands you buy from in a week, but start by looking into your most commonly purchased products (likely your staple foods), slowly change your purchasing habits and continue researching from there.
Other things to be aware of:
Something that is sustainable does not necessarily mean it is ethical - and vice versa. For example, your reusable coffee cup may help you ditch single use plastic cups but the person who made your reusable coffee cup may have been exploited. Be specific when it comes to what you’re looking for in a product. Don’t simply assume that because of one eco credential, the rest of the product’s procurement is perfect - this is a classic greenwashing move!
Pushing the responsibility onto the consumer: A classic one is packaging that states it is ‘recyclable’ but isn’t recyclable in your country. In Aotearoa New Zealand we can put plastics number 1, 2, and 5 in our curbside recycling bins but products packaged in number 3, 4, and 7 plastics are still sold in supermarkets and stores.
Making an effort for one product or line of products, but not holding those values throughout the organisation or business. A very common greenwashing example in the clothing industry is fashion brands promoting sustainable fabrics when only 10% of a shirt is actually organic cotton. Again, we must celebrate small changes, however, it’s clear to me when a company is slowly shifting all their products to be more sustainable or have a sustainable range that has existed with no updates or progress for a long time.
Ingredients in a product being described as 'natural' or 'organic', when only some of the ingredients can be described as 'natural' or 'organic'.
Inhouse certifications: Some companies are coming up with their own sustainability ‘badges’ that are not third party certifications but look like it. Always look into the methodology behind a certification.
Offering consumers the option to carbon offset their products without committing to any big changes immediately. This is okay, but can also prevent brands from feeling like they have to make other changes - you can read more about what I think of carbon offsets in my flight offsetting blog.
Be wary of singular environmental claims and question if they're the most relevant to the product or service. A greenwashing example of this is when a product may proudly boast that it’s carbon neutral but the main concern regarding its production should actually be biodiversity. That's why eco labels (like Eco Choice Aotearoa) that look at the entire product lifecycle and enforce requirements around repair, durability etc. are so important.
How can greenwashing be stopped?
There will always be companies who aim to capture a ‘green audience’ instead of actually reducing the impact of their business activities. It can be overwhelming when it feels like the responsibility is on the individual to avoid it, but fear not! Authorities and governments around the world are making an effort to crack down on greenwashing too. Here are three examples.
Example One: The European Union bans all greenwashing.
The biggest move made in terms of banning greenwashing has been from the European Union.
In January of 2024, the European Parliament voted on a directive (with 593 votes in favour, 21 against and 14 abstentions) to tackle greenwashing by improving product labelling and banning the use of misleading environmental claims. Several problematic marketing tactics and the early obsolescence of goods will be added to the EU list of banned commercial practices but the three main changes are:
Generic environmental claims and other misleading product information will be outlawed
Only sustainability labels based on approved certification schemes or established by public authorities will be allowed
Guarantee information has to be more visible and a new guarantee extension label will be introduced
Example Two: Britain removes advertisements that are not transparent.
When it comes to identifying greenwashing versus simply trying to make environmental changes, the banning of misleading advertisements from fossil fuel companies in Britain in 2023 is a great example. Shell, Repsol, and Petronas were forced to remove several newspaper, television, and poster ads as they were heroing their renewable energy investments without mentioning their other polluting activities.
The Advertising Standards Authority said that ads by Shell, Repsol, and Petronas had misled the public on the climate and environmental benefits of the groups’ products overall. It’s great that some of the world’s largest polluters are investing in renewable energy, but the ads “omitted material information” by promoting their “green” offers and plans, such as renewable energy and net zero goals, without any mention of their larger polluting operations.
Example Three: Aotearoa New Zealand’s Fair Trading Act.
In Aotearoa New Zealand, the Fair Trading Act makes it illegal for businesses to mislead or deceive. It requires businesses to make sure the information they share is accurate and that they don’t withhold important information. The Commerce Commission is responsible for enforcing the Act. The Commission relies on people reporting instances of companies breaking the rules.
There are serious penalties for breaching the Fair Trading Act – companies can be fined up to $600,000 and individuals up to $200,000. Even receiving a warning, rather than a fine, can be very damaging to a business's reputation.
There have been a few cases of this already:
Fujitsu was the first company to be fined for greenwashing at $310,000 in 2017 for making unsubstantiated or misleading claims about the energy efficiency of heat pumps. This included statements such as “New Zealand’s most energy efficient heat pump range” when that could not be backed up.
Glopac, a well-known takeaway cup provider, claimed their hot drink cups were recyclable even though they were not accepted by recyclers in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Why can I trust the Eco Choice label?
In Aotearoa New Zealand, we lack a range of certifications to help guide our shopping habits. Unless you’re like me and work in the sustainable education space (or have a tonne of time on your hands to research every product you purchase), it’s difficult to know what brands to trust. Eco Choice Aotearoa does not guarantee a product is 100% sustainable (the perfect sustainable product does not exist), but they do a heck of a good job at accrediting products from organisations that care about the impact of their business activities and want to lessen it. They’re a non-profit that certifies products and services that pass their comprehensive, science-based standards. Eco Choice Aotearoa’s certification process not only assesses the impact of a product on the environment but on human health too. They have clauses around durability/fit for purpose and they’re phasing in modern slavery and social accountability criteria.
No one can ‘buy’ this ecolabel (they either pass or fail) and they certainly do not certify products from brands who think they can offset the impact of their products instead of taking action to address emissions at the source.
Eco Choice Aotearoa has been around since 1992 as the result of a paper published by the New Zealand Government in 1989 called 'Labelling of Environmentally Friendly Goods'. The government invited public submissions on the proposal that the government establish a voluntary ‘ecolabelling scheme’ to give clear guidance about the real environmental effects of products. The 84 submissions received expressed almost unanimous support for the proposal.
As I mentioned at the beginning, Eco Choice Aotearoa is not the only mark of a sustainable product and some of the companies accredited with their certification still have improvements to make (part of their auditing process includes evidence that the company is actively pursuing sustainable innovations and improving). But one of my favourite parts about Eco Choice Aotearoa is that they give the opportunity for individuals to understand the products they purchase.
For each product (e.g. paper products, aluminium, wool scouring) you can find out what standards the brand has met. For example, for Reusable Plastic Products we know that one of the requirements is that “all primary plastic packaging must be made of plastics that are able to be recycled in the country where the product is sold”. Recycling is not best practice (reuse is!), but as companies work out how to switch to reuse it’s a huge win for us, the customer, to know that the packaging can be recycled here.
When developing and launching these standards, Eco Choice Aotearoa consults with the public before publishing. Anyone can provide feedback and they welcome new ideas to make their processes and standards more robust.
You can find all standards and specifications for Eco Choice Aotearoa certified products here.
When it comes to the auditing process, Eco Choice Aotearoa uses third-party accreditors to:
Make sure that the businesses meet their obligations under the Fair Trading Act - any other local legal requirements
Assess product labels and claims
Assess packing, waste and energy management
Audit their marketing and website content
The process of doing so includes onsite audits as well as calls and meetings to gather all the information. One of the main focuses of the licensing process is a Product Life Cycle Assessment Process. This looks at not only the sourcing, making and using of the product but also what happens to it after it has been used and how much responsibility the business takes throughout each stage. It’s clear from the experience of organisations who have been through the auditing process that gaining an Eco Choice Aotearoa certification is not a walk in the park. The process to get certified is (and should rightly be!) rigorous.
"It involves a detailed examination and audit of all of our company’s operations and procedures, and we had to pull together an enormous amount of documentation. But we were pleasantly surprised to find that we were already compliant in many ways because of the practices we’d developed and implemented across our franchises.” - Crestclean.
Eco Choice Aotearoa has accredited several big brands you’ll be familiar with (like Resene) but they put a strong focus on supporting epic small Kiwi businesses with accreditation, recommendations, and advice.
"We learned a lot about optimising the amount of packaging for our products and how the end-to-end production process can be environmentally beneficial. We thought a lot about becoming more sustainable and as a result developed our returns and refill programme, which is a key differentiator in the market.” - Will & Able.
Some hardcore greenies might disagree with Eco Choice certifying products that undoubtedly have an impact on the environment. But the ecolabel only certifies products deemed necessary, with no viable alternative (yet). They work with businesses to lessen their impact, comply with best practices, and pursue continuous improvement. This strategy is far more beneficial for the planet than hypocritical fist-shaking (for instance, I live in a home, use a bike, eat food… all of these things had an impact on the planet).
I don’t have the silver bullet technique for choosing a sustainable item; we all have our own set of values and standards. The ‘perfect sustainable’ item or business does not exist. But there will always be manipulative brands who do the bare minimum for the environment while spending all their time telling you about how ‘eco-friendly’ they are. Having hit the end of this blog post (thank you for reading) I hope you feel empowered to dodge greenwashing, inspired to seek out the Eco Choice Aotearoa certification, and encouraged to talk about greenwashing with your friends and family.