What is Greenwashing?

Greenwashing is the act of making false or misleading claims about the environmental impacts of a product, service, or company.

The term greenwashing was first coined in 1986 by Jay Westerveld, an environmentalist who used it to describe certain practices of the hotel industry [1].

Greenwashing has become increasingly common in recent years in marketing and business, as more companies attempt to tap into the growing demand for green products and services.

How Greenwashing Works

While greenwashing can take many different forms, it typically involves making unsubstantiated claims about a product’s environmental benefits, using deceptive marketing practices, or failing to disclose negative environmental impacts. 

Greenwashing often involves using vague language, such as “eco-friendly“, “recycled materials”, or “sustainably sourced”, without any specifics or numbers to back it up. Companies attempt to leverage technicalities on this broad language to be acceptable from a legal standpoint, while appearing to be more environmentally focused than they actually are.

Unfortunately, intentional greenwashing is used to exploit consumers’ growing concerns about the environment, and it can be very difficult to spot.

It is also possible that companies engage in unintentional greenwashing – simply not realizing details about their impact to the planet. While from an ethical standpoint, this may be easier to forgive, it further drives home the need to spread awareness and do your research.

Learn more about how to identify greenwashing →

Why Do Companies Engage in Greenwashing?

To put it simply – companies decide to greenwash because it can make them a lot of money.

It’s very unfortunate from a moral perspective, but it’s true. Continued emphasis on sustainability and supporting eco-conscious companies is a wonderful thing, but some businesses would rather lie to appear that way but be able to keep costs low with wasteful products and practices.

Greenwashing is an becoming a common practice, especially among businesses in industries that would benefit from appealing to eco-conscious consumers.

Learn to make your business more sustainable without greenwashing →

Is Greenwashing Illegal?

Greenwashing itself as a concept is not technically illegal, however it is unethical and could have legal implications if done maliciously.

Depending on the extent to which a company greenwashes, it could be illegal if they tamper with numbers or falsely report environmental impacts. But this would differ depending on the unique scenario.

Impacts of Greenwashing

Greenwashing is problematic because it can cause consumers to mistakenly believe that a product is more environmentally friendly than it actually is. This can lead to people buying products that they think are helping the environment when they’re actually causing more harm than good.

The dangers of greenwashing are very real. By supporting these companies and their harmful practices, millions of consumers are unknowingly harming the environment, despite their good intentions.

This directly opposes so much of the positive progress we’ve started to make as more environmentally conscious consumers. Over time, this can have dramatic impacts on our planet, including:

• Ocean and land pollution
• Depletion of resources
• Greenhouse gas emissions
• Harming wildlife and their environments

This list could go on and on. So as a consumer that wants to make a positive difference, it’s important to be aware of these impacts.