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We are hitting a crunch point in regard to keeping to the 1.5°C limit as set out in the Paris Agreement. It’s going to take a collective effort to reduce the most catastrophic impacts of climate change, which is exactly why we’re seeing an increase in legislation and regulations that call for tangible evidence of sustainability efforts to combat the rise in greenwashing.
If you’re looking for guidance on sustainability transparency, today’s guest has an initiative that can help.
In this episode Mel is joined by Charlie Martin, CEO and Founder of The Anti-Greenwash Charter, to discuss how their charter promotes transparency and accountability for sustainability claims, and how it can help consumers to identify credible carbon claims.
You’ll learn
- What is The Anti-Greenwash Charter
- How can the Charter ensure credible carbon claims?
- What are the biggest challenges businesses face in measuring their carbon footprint?
- How can The Anti-Greenwash Charter help consumers to spot credible carbon claims?
- What role do governments and regulatory bodies play in combatting greenwashing?
Resources
In this episode, we talk about:
[00:30] Episode Summary – Charlie Martin joins Mel to discuss how The Anti-Greenwash Charter can help promote accountability and transparency in sustainability claims, and how it can help consumers identify credible carbon claims.
[01:50] What inspired the creation of The Anti-Greenwash Charter?: Charlie used to run an agency called Gusta, which was a UK based business that worked on sustainability communication for organisations in the built environment.
His focused shifted when the Competitions and Markets authority in the UK published their Green Claims Code alongside research which found that 40% of sustainability-related messaging online was misleading.
At the same time, they had 2 very proactive clients (1 of which was going through B Corp certification) that highlighted that the CMA had not named the built environment as one of the affected sectors. They pointed out that the built environment accounts for 40% of all emissions, so were likely to be targeted by such regulations next. They asked to run a campaign that would Increase confidence both internally within their sectors and externally in their sustainability messaging.
It was decided that a publicly available document would be the best way forward to proactively disclose their carbon reduction related activities. Other ideas were added for an editorial process to include legal, sustainability and marketing feedback ahead of publishing.
Essentially, the origins are rooted in the notion of a green claims policy, which developed into a more robust accreditation signatory.
[06:30] How does Charlie define Greenwashing?: Charlie defines greenwashing as “overstating or misleading stakeholders regarding the environmental credentials of an organization, service, or product.
Charlie explains that there are two types of greenwashing: direct and indirect. Direct greenwashing involves making false claims about a product’s environmental benefits, while indirect greenwashing involves making true claims that are irrelevant or misleading.
[08:00] What are the key principles of the charter, and how do you ensure adherence among signatories?: The 4 key principles are:
- Accountability
- Honesty
- Fairness
- Transparency
If you’d like to know more about each principle in more detail, visit The Anti-Greenwash Charter website.
Taking a look at transparency in more detail, it’s not just about sharing all the best sustainability related news for your business, it’s about being willing and upfront with areas where you’re not as strong.
One keyway they ensure signatories adhere to this principle involves publicly displacing their green claims policies. The first section of every policy is ‘where can we improve?’ – they specify this as there isn’t a company that is 100% environmentally sustainable, and businesses need to be honest about this if they want to improve.
[12:15] What are Charlie’s thoughts on the current state of Net Zero claims? There are some promising developments, such as the upcoming Green Claims Directive, which has more requirements set around how people make claims and being held accountable for those.
It’s challenging for everyone to navigate, and the big thing here to remember is that everyone is clumsy when it comes to Net Zero. Businesses are trying their best, but when getting deep into the topic of sustainability, it becomes clear how broad it truly is.
Ultimately, people have to be okay with getting things wrong. Some people see setting ambitious targets as dangerous, but if we don’t push for them, change is going to happen at a snails pace.
There is a need for credible, substantiated plans that are in-line with best practice, but we need to be careful to not go too far in that direction to ensure that it helps rather than hinders sustainability efforts. Innovation should be encouraged and not punished if mistakes are made or certain really ambitious targets aren’t met within a certain timeframe.
Mel highlights that Standards such as ISO 14064 are great frameworks to guide businesses in measuring their carbon footprint, with guidance that encourages independent third party verification for further transparency.
[15:40] The Green Claims Directive and Transparency – Charlie highlights that the Green Claims Directive identifies independent third party verification as a mandatory requirement of claims made before they’re disclosed publicly.
As this is also something that The Anti-Greenwash Charter encourages, signatories are already ahead of the curve.
[17:10] What are the biggest challenges that companies are facing in accurately measuring their carbon footprint and how does the Charter help to address these challenges? The main challenge is accurately measuring their carbon footprint, and the charter acts as a signpost with referral partners who can assist with this aspect of their sustainability journey.
Another challenge is communication. So you’ve got your substantiated claims and green credentials, but how do you go about communicating that? That’s one of the crucial elements that The Anti-Greenwash Charter can help with. As mentioned earlier, they can help verify a publicly available green claims policy, which is a huge step towards credible carbon claims.
If you’d like an example of this, you can download Anti-Greenwash Charters’ green claims policy template from their website – which provides a step-by-step guide on producing one of your own.
[20:50] What are the broader benefits for companies that adopt a transparent and credible green claim? Charlie explains that signatories have used their status as a signatory for their Charter on tender frameworks, and won due to that fact.
Another benefit is the Charters’ credibility, which gives external stakeholders confidence that a business is doing what they claim to be doing.
They also offer anti-greenwashing awareness training, which gives those within the business the tools and techniques that can be utilised in any published content to ensure they aren’t making any greenwashing claims.
[22:25] The negative effects of greenwashing on well meaning businesses: Charlie and Mel both highlight the sad reality that many businesses would prefer to simply not make any green initiatives or claims public for fear that if they are not done 100% successfully then there’s a chance for reputational damage.
The need for robust sustainability frameworks that build confidence is clear. Due diligence is important, and so is the need to allow room for mistakes to happen, so long as businesses take the necessary steps to fix them and keep continually improving.
[27:15] What role does Charlie see governments and regulatory bodies playing in combating greenwashing, and what policy changes would he like to see? – The EU Green Claims Directive is currently best in class as it requires businesses to look at the consequences of their impact on the environment, in addition to the requirement for independent verification to back up any claims made.
Other regulations here in the UK, like the Green Claims Code, is weaker in comparison. It was watered down through negotiation into a more voluntary scheme.
For us here in the UK, we really do need to align with Europe, as their regulations are a lot more robust and offer a tangible path towards a united greener future.
There are other benefits, as Mel highlights from her Masters research, there is compelling evidence that a company’s value increases by an average of 10% if their carbon claims are independently verified.
[32:35] What are Charlie’s aspirations for The Anti-Greenwash Charter? And what are his hopes for the future of credible carbon claims? – They’re really keen to become a multinational signatory, which is already showing promise as they’ve had interest from the US and Australia.
Charlie envisions a future where businesses publish a green claims policy regardless of if it’s mandated by legislation. This is so we can build confidence in green claims being made and be assured that people are doing what they say they’re doing.
To help with credibility and transparency, The Anti-Greenwash Charter has been incorporated as a not-for-profit organisation. Charlie wants to reaffirm that they started this to ultimately reduce the impact businesses make on the planet, and they are fully committed to this goal.
If you’d like to learn more about The Anti-Greenwash Charter, visit their website!
If you’d like any assistance with carbon standards, get in touch with Carbonology, they’d be happy to help!
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The rampant rise of greenwashing threatens to undermine genuine sustainability efforts and mislead consumers, with over 900 businesses in Europe being accused of the practice in 2024.
Greenwashing can come in many different forms, and the tactics used aren’t always easy to spot.
In this episode, Mel dives into the 7 shades of greenwashing and explains the common greenwashing tactics you should be on the lookout for.
You’ll learn
- What is Greencrowding?
- What is Greenlighting?
- What is Greenshifting?
- What is Greenlabelling?
- What is Greenrinsing?
- What is Greenhushing?
- What is Greenmasking?
Resources
In this episode, we talk about:
[02:05] Episode Summary – In the 2nd part of this 3-part series on greenwashing, we dive into the various methods and tactics used by businesses to avoid their sustainability obligations.
[03:05] What is greencrowding?: This tactic relies on safety in numbers and occurs when different groups (like governments, organisations and companies) join forces to create the impression of making significant environmental changes.
For example, 8 of the world’s biggest 20 plastic polluters including companies such as Royal Dutch Shell, Coca-Cola, and BP are part of the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, however the group moves at the speed of the slowest member and sets low environmental targets to stall action as it is often costly and involves a lot of the companies resources and time
[03:55] What is greenlighting? – This is when companies spotlight a particularly ‘green’ product or operation which helps to draw attention away from tis otherwise environmentally damaging activities.
Commonly seen in the car industry, recent BMW campaigning highlights the company’s electric vehicles, despite being heavily invested in combustion engine vehicles therefore not addressing their major source of emissions.
Another example is Exxonmobil, who heavily advertised its “advanced biofuels” made from algae, however didn’t mention the fact that the biofuels made up a miniscule part of production. Since coming under scrutiny Exxonmobil have rescinded this project altogether and haven’t looked to practical alternatives.
[05:15] What is greenshifting? – This is where the blame gets shifted onto consumers. BP’s “Know your carbon footprint” campaign is a key example, it invited customers to share pledges for reducing their individual emissions yet BP’s core business continue to partake and scheme hugely polluting oil and gas projects.
Another example include H&M who urged consumers to recycle their old clothes yet, the company continues to be a prime culprit in fast-fashion and have a significant part to plat in over-consumerism leading to environmental degradation.
[06:10] The growing need for comprehensive carbon reporting – This occurs when companies use words like ‘eco’, ‘sustainable’ or related wording or symbols conveying green messaging with no evidence to support it.
Kohl’s and Walmart were sued for labelling toxic rayon textiles as eco-friendly bamboo.
Another more recent example is McDonald’s Paper Straws where In 2019 a paper straws to introduced to replace plastic ones, claiming it was an eco-friendly move. However, it was later revealed that these paper straws were not recyclable, leading to criticism that the company was misleading consumers about the environmental benefits.
[07:15] What is greenrinsing? – This is where companies change their sustainability commitments or targets before actually achieving them.
Repeatedly, Coca-cola has missed and moved its recycling targets. Between 2020 – 2022, the company dropped its targets for using recycled packaging from 50% by 2030 to 25% proving these targets were not sufficiently made.
BP and ExxonMobil are two more examples of being criticized for frequently updating their climate targets without substantial progress. Various ambitious goals were announced over the years, but critics argue that these targets are often revised or postponed making it hard to assess real achievements and also trust between consumers, investors and legal frameworks are lost.
So the takeaway here is, make sure you’re targets are realistic!
[08:45] What is greenhushing? – This occurs when companies deliberately underreport or hide green credentials to evade scrutiny, which is a rising practice found in larger firms who struggle to successfully hit their targets/ aims.
Commonly found with firms that make distant net zero targets but do not report on progress. It allows them to hide the fact that they are not taking meaningful steps. Companies often avoid reporting positive environmental measures they may be taking to prevent greenwashing accusations which can be argued as counter-productive in the efforts to help drive systemic and industrial change in the most polluting industries.
H&M and ExxonMobil are key examples of greenhushing and no-longer actively promote their sustainability practices as they have faced criticism over false / limited actions in the past.
This one is rather damaging, especially to those who are taking meaningful sustainable action, but may not be keeping up with their targets. This is why it’s so crucial to make those targets obtainable.
If this practice continues, then there is less pressure overall for businesses to do their part for sustainability. It’s important to celebrate the victories, no matter how small, as it all adds up to the bigger picture.
[10:55] What is greenmasking? – Greenmasking (a term coined by Carbonology®) is used to describe the practice where organisations self-certify their environmental impact without independent verification. This means they claim their green credentials are accurate while avoiding transparency about their methodology and data.
Essentially, they are “marking their own homework,” which can lead to misleading claims about their sustainability efforts. Some companies offer ISO 14064 consulting and verification services that may not always adhere to the rigorous standards required for genuine verification.
This can result in poor practices and undermine the credibility of the certification. For example, some consulting firms might offer ISO 14064 verification as part of their services but fail to conduct thorough and independent audits. Instead, they may ‘verify’ the data is correct in-house. This can lead to situations where companies are able to self-label their environmental impact as compliant with ISO 14064 without truly meeting the standard’s requirements.
This results in a vast amount of unreliable and untrustworthy data that is purportedly verified. Furthermore, with some consultancy companies asserting that offering both consultancy and verification within the same firm is a viable option, it paves the way for poor reporting standards to be accepted, only worsening the problem in the long run.
Greenmasking can have significant implications for stakeholders, including investors, customers, and regulators, who rely on accurate and transparent environmental reporting. To combat greenmasking, it is crucial for organisations to seek independent and accredited verification of their GHG emissions ensuring that their sustainability claims are credible and based upon the rigorous standards stated in ISO14064-3.
Download a copy of The 7 Shades of Greenwashing from Carbonology’s website here.
If you would like some assistance with carbon Standards and reporting, simply get in touch with the team over at Carbonology.
We’d love to hear your views and comments about the ISO Show, here’s how:
- Share the ISO Show on Twitter or Linkedin
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In a world increasingly concerned about environmental impact, companies are under immense pressure to demonstrate their sustainability credentials. But how can businesses truly differentiate themselves from those simply paying lip service to green practices?
Greenwashing is a term that you will likely be familiar with, as it’s one that’s been on the rise as consumer preference steers towards those who are seen to be doing the right thing. Alarmingly, high-severity cases, which involve companies that took a purposeful and systematic approach to concealing ESG violations, rise by more than 32% year on year.
In our upcoming 3-part series we’ll be exploring the impact of greenwashing on business, the different types of greenwashing and the role verification can play in building genuine evidence based sustainability strategies.
In this episode, Mel dives into the first of this 3-part series to explain what greenwashing is, the common tactics used in greenwashing and how businesses can build genuine sustainability.
You’ll learn
- Who is greenwashing?
- Where did the term originate from?
- The rise of greenwashing
- What are some of the common greenwashing tactics used?
- The danger of greenwashing
- How can businesses build genuine sustainability strategies?
Resources
In this episode, we talk about:
[02:05] Episode Summary – We kick off our 3-part greenwashing series with an exploration of what greenwashing really is, the common greenwashing tactics businesses employ and how you can avoid those pitfalls to build genuine sustainability within your business.
[05:25] What is greenwashing?: Greenwashing, in essence, is the deceptive use of environmental claims to mislead consumers into believing a company’s products or services are more environmentally friendly than they actually are.
[05:45] Where did the term ‘greenwashing’ originate from? – The term “greenwashing” was coined in 1986 by Jay Westerveld, an American environmentalist.
Westerveld first used the term in an essay describing his experience at a hotel in Fiji. The hotel encouraged guests to reuse towels to “save the environment,” but Westerveld observed that the hotel was simultaneously expanding its operations, significantly impacting the local environment. This contradiction highlighted the hotel’s primary intent to cut costs rather than genuinely conserve resources.
Westerveld’s observation exemplified how businesses could deceptively use environmental claims to mislead consumers into believing their products or services are more environmentally friendly than they actually are.
[06:35] The rise of greenwashing: Many businesses over a wide range of industries have made a pledge to reduce their carbon impact by 2050, driven by both an increase in regulation and consumer perception.
However, the Economist highlighted some troubling research, citing that while many businesses will puff out their claims of sustainable practices, many don’t have the evidence to back them up. Many should have the resource, say an Asset Manager, that could provide tangible reports on their carbon consumption each year, and yet they choose not to publicly disclose any such reports.
So, a lot of talking the talk, but not walking the walk!
[07:40] The growing need for comprehensive carbon reporting – There are a number of sustainability and ESG regulations now in effect, with more to come in 2025 (such as the Green Claims Directive that is due to come into affect on the 27th March 2025) that require businesses of different sizes and sectors to report on their carbon consumption and reduction. If you’d like to learn more about a few of these, check out our previous episodes on:
[08:15] What are the common tactics used in greenwashing? These can include:-
- Vague and Ambiguous Claims: Phrases like “eco-friendly” or “sustainable” are often used without specific, quantifiable data. However, the EU Green Claims Directive, in theory help address this, although this only applied in Europe.
- Focus on Single Issues: Highlighting one minor environmental benefit while ignoring significant negative impacts across the supply chain.
- False Labels and Certifications: Creating misleading labels or misrepresenting genuine certifications. There are numerous ‘Green certifications’ out there that charge for a badge, without providing any evidence, of for those that do provide information it could just be a document that isn’t evidence based i.e. a Policy statement or ‘pledge’ or ‘commitment’
- “Greenwashing by Association”: Implying a connection to environmental causes through sponsorships or marketing campaigns.
[10:15] The danger of greenwashing – The danger with greenwashing is the negative impact it has through an Erosion of Consumer Trust. People are becoming increasingly skeptical of environmental claims, making it harder for truly sustainable companies to gain credibility.
Greenwashing can also lead to Distorted Market Signals: creating a false impression of progress, hindering genuine innovation and investment in sustainable solutions.
[11:30] How can businesses build genuine sustainability strategies?
- Transparency and Accountability:
- Disclose environmental data openly and transparently.
- Seek independent third-party verification of sustainability claims.
- Focus on Life-Cycle Assessment:
- Evaluate environmental impacts across the entire product or service lifecycle, from raw material extraction to end-of-life disposal.
- Continuous Improvement:
- Set ambitious, measurable, and time-bound environmental targets.
- Regularly review and refine sustainability strategies based on performance data.
- Engage with Stakeholders:
- Collaborate with suppliers, customers, and other stakeholders to identify and address environmental challenges.
If you would like some assistance with carbon Standards and reporting, simply get in touch with the team over at Carbonology.
We’d love to hear your views and comments about the ISO Show, here’s how:
- Share the ISO Show on Twitter or Linkedin
- Leave an honest review on iTunes or Soundcloud. Your ratings and reviews really help and we read each one.
Subscribe to keep up-to-date with our latest episodes:
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