TL;DR
Greenwashing erodes trust. Be careful to avoid overstatements. Use hard numbers. Give context. And remember to explain anything confusing.
How to Avoid Greenwashing
Eco-friendly products and services are big business – over $355 billion in 2024. That means there’s a big financial motive in going green, and very little regulation. Terms like “eco-friendly” and “green” sound good but have no legal meaning. That leads to outright greenwashing – when companies claim impacts that aren’t real – and indirect greenwashing, which is when consumers are allowed to believe something is having a bigger impact than it is, just by fancy labeling. Either way, greenwashing destroys consumer trust. But that doesn’t mean you can’t let people know of all the good work you’re doing. So here’s how to toot your eco-friendly horn without greenwashing.
Be honest.
This seems obvious but it can be easy to overstate your impact. Take native plants, for instance. Yes, they help cool their surrounding environment but it’s hardly the same effect as an air conditioner. So to promote your efforts, you could explain how plants cool their environment through evapotranspiration and why native plants are better for local wildlife.
Help your community understand the big picture. Talk to them about the possibilities, including what has been shown to help and what doesn’t. It can be useful to develop information for people in different stages of understanding. For example, some of your audience may be new to native plants and need information on that. Others may already know about native plants and pollinators but need to understand the health implications of excess heat and how vegetation can help.
Share your data.
The best way to avoid greenwashing is to share your numbers. Numbers require context, though. Saying you’ve increased recycling 100% in one neighborhood sounds great – until people realize there had only been one person recycling, and now there are two. If you’ve only seen small results, talk about why that is. Share lessons learned and how you plan to get better results in the future. Conversely, don’t let a smaller number be misunderstood, either. For instance, If you have reduced the plastics used by your surgical suite only 3%, show how much that adds up over a year. Then explain how you are going to keep increasing your impact.
If you haven’t collected data, you can always begin. If you have historical records, see if you can establish a baseline for when your project started, so you have a clear comparison. And don’t forget to show trends as your projects develop over time.
Address common misunderstandings.
Vague labels are a big problem in the green sector. Since there is no regulation of terms like “green” or “eco-friendly,” they can easily be misused and misunderstood. My personal pet peeve is “organic.” Whenever I try to buy compost for my garden, I get told the product is “organic” and “all natural.” That’s true in the sense that it’s manure or plant material. But it’s not true in the sense of being pesticide-free, which is what I am looking for. So I have learned to ask for “OMRI-certified,” instead.
In fact, if I were advising an OMRI-certified company, I would tell them to add information on their bag about the difference. That way customers and retailers alike are educated as they shop – which helps your product stand out.
Greenwashing is never good communication.
You don’t need to overstate. You don’t need to sound bigger than you are. Be honest, use numbers, Give context. Explain what’s confusing. That’s the best way to avoid greenwashing and keep the trust of your customers.
Photo by Vasilis Caravitis on Unsplash