7 sins of greenwashing drivers#
The drivers for greenwashing and wellbeing. The 7 sins of greenwashing by TerraChoice. In 2008, the TerraChoice Group reviewed 2,200+ products in North America, concluding that over 95 percent committed at least one of Seven Sins of Greenwashing (the sins of the hidden trade-off, no proof, vagueness, worshipping false labels, irrelevance, the lesser of two evils, and fibbing). The environmental impact from this fuel is in best case equal to the pure gasoline. Great news is that its becoming harder for companies to do this as the public gains greater environmental awareness. 7 sins of Greenwashing you must know What is green-washing Greenwashing (a compound word modelled on whitewash), or green sheen is a form of spin in which green PR or green marketing is deceptively used to promote the perception that an organization’s products, aims or policies are environmentally friendly. The Sin of Exaggerating: An example is the Statoil commercial for Bio95, which is a fuel with 5% bioethanol and 95% gasoline, presenting the car turning into a green grass field when you fill it up. Terrachoice noted that this was the least prevalent form of greenwashing it encountered in its survey, but there were a few products bearing claims that were simply untrue.ħ. The Sin of Fibbing: This really doesn’t require much of an explanation. The Sin of Lesser of Two Evils: Are organic cigarettes “green?” What about “eco-friendly” pesticides and herbicides? Labeling such products “green(er)” ultimately distracts from the fundamental problems with these products.Ħ. Any product currently labeled “CFC-free,” for instance, engages in this form of greenwash, because all products are currently CFC-free: these compounds have been banned for nearly twenty years.ĥ. The Sin of Irrelevance: Making a claim that’s truthful but unimportant or unhelpful.
7 sins of greenwashing free#
A product may be free of specific toxic chemicals, but, of course, the claim doesn’t say that.Ĥ. And like its predecessor, this version offers sensational findings: of 2,219 products making environmental claims that researchers found in North American retailers, 'over 98 percent' committed one of. For instance, ever seen something labeled “chemical-free?” The report points out that this can’t be true: everything contains chemicals - water’s a chemical. The Seven Sins of Greenwashing: Is everybody lying An updated version of the 2007 report The Six Sins of Greenwashing has just been released. The Sin of Vagueness: This sin involves feel-good language that’s so vague as to be meaningless. 2009 committed at least one of the TerraChoice Seven Sins of Greenwashing.5 The skyrocketing incidence of greenwashing can have profound negative effects on consumer confidence in green products, eroding the consumer market for green products and services.
The Sin of No Proof: As the name suggests, this sin refers to making environmental claims that have no evidence to back them up.ģ.
7 sins of greenwashing full#
The Sin of the Hidden Tradeoff: The green version of the “glittering generality,” this sin involves presenting a product as green by highlighting a single environmental attribute (only focusing, for instance, on recycled content, or a manufacturer’s efforts to lower carbon emissions, without looking at the full range of environmental impact).Ģ.