Greenwashing versus Green Hushing

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Earlier this year, the International Consumer Protection Enforcement Network (ICPEN) said its annual sweep of corporate websites found that four in ten featured potentially misleading environmental information. Unfortunately, the term “Greenwashing” is prevalent with experts warning this trend will only accelerate as consumer and investor demands for sustainable products outpace corporate action.

Greenwashing refers to when companies invest more of their time in marketing themselves as sustainable than in actually working on environmental or social inclusion initiatives. It was originally coined by Jay Westerfeld in 1986 when he called out the hypocrisy of hotels creating ads on TV and radio encouraging guests to reuse their towels while neglecting making sustainability changes to their everyday business practices.

But not much has changed since the ‘80s and if we look around, we’re faced with greenwashing daily: the fashion brands with ‘conscious’ collections that don’t pay their workers fairly; McDonald’s shouting about its paper ‘eco-friendly’ straws that aren’t recyclable; brands supporting Black Lives Matter with all White executive boards and woeful diversity and inclusion policies.

Greenwashing is wrong and misleading and should be called out, but I’m also concerned about the growing trend towards green hushing, which is when businesses silence their sustainability efforts due to a fear of backlash, or because they know they’re not perfect in certain areas.

Green hushing is potentially detrimental because when we hear about prominent companies making sustainable changes it can encourage others to follow and that’s when we see ideas really take off. What’s more, when consumers are exposed to sustainability efforts, they gain a better understanding of what to look out for and what to expect and demand from brands in the future.

We need to strike a balance between raising the visibility of problems and the visibility of solutions. Since launching Little Fires, I’ve been stunned by the number of brands and businesses that are so worried about being accused of greenwashing that they don’t communicate at all. If this sounds like you, or your brand, I urge you to rethink your stance.

We need more inspiration, more knowledge sharing, more role modelling to create a sustainability revolution.

However, make sure you adopt these three golden rules to avoid greenwash:

1. Make sustainability a business-wide initiative. Before you think about any PR or marketing, ensure you have built a robust and holistic ESG strategy that shows your commitment to environmental and social issues on multiple levels across your company. A siloed initiative from one department will not suffice. A credible strategy needs to be business wide.

 2. Make significant and substantiated claims. Communicate significant impacts and ensure you can back up your efforts with results and proof points on the progress and impact you’re making. Small or pilot initiatives should not be exaggerated.

 3. Make communications open and transparent. Don’t’ worry if you’re not 100% perfect or haven’t completely met your goals. It’s not an easy journey and people will understand that if you commit to timely and open updates on your progress. Be honest and transparent about where you are on the journey (avoid self-aggrandisement!), about your successes and also about what hasn’t worked and what you’re striving to do better.