GREENWASHING: DECEITFUL MARKETING AT THE COST OF ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
- ILS Hariyali
- May 13, 2023
- 5 min read
Updated: May 14, 2023
WHAT IS GREENWASHING?
Environmental Protection has become an important topic of discussion since the last couple of decades. In recent years, there have been various emerging trends that are contributing towards environmental degradation. One such recent factor is Greenwashing.
Green washing is the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service. This phrase is applied when organizations falsely advertise and describe the initiatives adopted by them as environment conserving; this is done to enhance their public image.
The term ‘Greenwashing’ was coined in 1986 by the US based environmentalist Jay Westerveld in a study criticizing the “save the towel” movement in hotels at the time. He pointed out that a large amount of waste was being generated throughout the rest of the hotel and there were no visible efforts being taken to make the hotels more sustainable. He stated that the hotels were conveniently trying to reduce costs by not having to wash towels as much while smartly trying to promote it as an eco-friendly initiative.
Greenwashing is inconsistent with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as companies simply declare themselves to be practicing environmentally-friendly policies whereas, in reality, they do not live up to the commitment.
WHY COMPANIES GET INVOLVED IN GREENWASHING?
Being ethical usually drives the customer base. As per various surveys, people are more supportive of the companies and brands that are sustainable and ethical. According to Neilson’s Global Corporate Sustainability Report, approximately 66% of the customers spend more on a product if it belongs to an environment friendly brand. As a result, most of the top brands and companies usually try to be socially conscious or at least pretend to be so.
What most companies do is largely advertise one tiny sustainable attribute while everything else is contributing to environmental deterioration and it is very unlikely that the company is genuinely intended to be eco-friendly. Companies provide unsubstantiated claims regarding the environmental benefits of its products, technology, services, and strategic practices. It is, in reality, an eyewash. Some organizations make exaggerated and ludicrous claims, while some resort to blatant lies. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that the companies conduct proper research on how to be sustainable and incorporate it to all their operation processes and not only to what the customers see.
EXAMPLES OF LEADING COMPANIES ENGAGED IN GREENWASHING
1. The best illustration of greenwashing would be of Volkswagen when the company confessed that it cheated emissions tests by installing in various vehicles a “defect” device, with a software which could detect when the vehicle was undergoing an emission test and altered the performance to lower the emission levels. In reality, those vehicles were emitting 40 times more nitrogen oxide pollutants than the permitted limit.
2. In 2018, Starbucks came up with a “straw-less lid,” during it sustainability drive however the lid consisted of more plastic than the old lid and straw together. The company stated that the lid is made using polypropylene, a widely-accepted recyclable plastic that “can be captured in recycling infrastructure.” Environmentalists quickly criticized that only 9% of the world’s total plastic was recycled, so the company should not make false claims that all the lids would be recycled.
3. Nestle in 2018 released a report stating that the company had sustainable goals for its packaging to be 100% recyclable or reusable by the year 2025. Subsequent to which many NGOs and environmental critics brought up that the company has not released any clear targets or a timeline to realize these goals neither did it initiate any additional efforts to help in the recycling by consumers.
Similarly, Coca Cola issued a statement committing to get every bottle back by 2030, so that none of it ends up as litter or in the oceans, and the plastic can be recycled into new bottles.
In Break Free From Plastic’s 2020 annual report, Nestlé, along with Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, were named the world’s top plastic polluters for the third year in a row.
4. Bank of America, Citibank and JP Morgan announced new “green investment” opportunities. Although, a report issued in 2021 displayed that the banks named above and some other major banks including Wells Fargo, Barclays, Bank of China, HSBC, Goldman Sachs, and Deutsche Bank were still investing in industries that are biggest contributors to global warming, while boasting that they are the flag bearers of green transition.
5. H&M, Zara and Uniqlo are brands that are usually called out for their involvement in greenwashing. These fast fashion brands contribute majorly to the enormous amounts of textile waste generated by the clothing industry. Around 80% of the global textile waste is destroyed or landfill-bound and only 20% is reused or recycled.
THE INDIAN PERSPECTIVE
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has made stringent Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) guidelines in the country in May 2021, by releasing the new Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report (BRSR) which now mandates that from April 1, 2022, the top 1,000 companies in terms of market capitalisation in India have to compulsorily make disclosures concerning their ESG practices. The report is issued with the motive to facilitate India lower the emissions and meet a target of net zero emissions by 2070.
The report will be eventually extended to unlisted companies as well hence pushing the smaller firms to submit a report on how they plan to adapt to climate hazards and other environmental risks.
Some of the mandates for companies under BRSR are:
The companies must disclose ESG risks and highlight the strategies they will implement to reduce the risks.
All companies must have sustainability goals, which have to be reported. The performance in pursuant of these goals must also be reported.
Companies must publish all environment-related activities, like waste management practices, greenhouse gas emissions, carbon footprint, etc.
Given that India is the world’s third-largest polluter, this is a much-needed step to improve ESG guidelines in the country. It will also act as a vigilance mechanism for any possible greenwashing by the companies as it compulsorily requires the companies to disclose accurate data of sustainability goals.
CONCLUSION
Greenwashing has skyrocketed in the recent years and more and more companies are getting engaged in deceitful tactics to increase the consumer base. Greenwashing is a deterrent to all positive measures that are implemented globally towards environmental protection and is a sharp blow for all the fights and campaigns towards climate change, global warming, etc. It is the need of the hour that organizations add environmental management to their internal policies and invest more in clean technologies that help in lowering pollution. Greenwashing is a temporary provision that might help companies for a while but in the long run, it would just fail as it is a very condemnable practice which is extremely hazardous to the environment.
By
Rushika Bakshi
V BA LLB
ILS LAW COLLEGE, PUNE
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