The Definition of Greenwashing

Sustainability is fashionable now. 

It's a large percentage of buying decisions and inevitably some businesses will be exaggerating their claims in order to gain.

But what do we need to look out for if we suspect a spurious or tenuous claim?

The Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA) have 6 principles:

• Claims must be truthful and accurate
• Claims must be clear and unambiguous
• Claims must not omit or hide important relevant information
• Comparisons must be fair and meaningful
• Claims must consider the full life cycle of the product or service
• Claims must be substantiated 

If a company you have seen is making claims that doesn't follow these guidelines then you can report them to the CMA for review.

United Nations

Here is an extract from the United Nations website:

'Greenwashing presents a significant obstacle to tackling climate change. By misleading the public to believe that a company or other entity is doing more to protect the environment than it is, greenwashing promotes false solutions to the climate crisis that distract from and delay concrete and credible action.

Greenwashing manifests itself in several ways – some more obvious than others.'

Click here to learn the tactics to look out for.

What Is Our Advice?

• Choose brands with a certified product(s)
• Ensure the green credentials are relevant to your industry (ask us for our opinion if you're not sure)
• Be wary of brands that are promising very impressive claims EG. ‘the most sustainable…’
• Where possible, aim to use companies and brands that are predominantly or entirely UK manufactured
• Manufacturers should have ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001
• Look out for brands that have a ‘green’ or ‘eco’ name, designed to mislead the buyer

If in doubt, ask for an Independent Lifecycle Analysis report from the manufacturer who its making the claims. This a third party analysing the credibility of the claims by investigating the whole process of producing a product.

Reach out to us for our opinion and counsel. We have over 20 years experience in this industry and have been publicly championing genuinely sustainable products for well over decade.

Here's a video from the archives before sustainability was in vogue and before YouTube was a thing!