Greenwashing is no doubt a term you are familiar with. Many high-profile cases of greenwashing have hit the headlines recently, including accusations made against Shell earlier this year for classifying investments in natural gas as spending on renewable energy and FIFA being called out by climate experts for wrongly claiming that the 2022 Qatar World Cup would be carbon neutral. With scandals like these regularly in the news, accusations of greenwashing have become a source of anxiety for many businesses.
Simply put, greenwashing is an attempt to make people believe that your company is doing more to protect the environment than it really is. Sounds easy enough to avoid – but even when you are genuinely doing your best to make your company as sustainable as possible, it can be easy to fall into the trap of greenwashing your business unintentionally.
Navigating the thin green line isn’t easy, but following the tips and guidelines below should help startups make a sincere effort to avoid greenwashing.
1: Think ahead: Avoid making claims you can’t back up
Flashy headlines are often a tool to grab your attention. It can feel like exaggerating is the only way to succeed in today’s attention economy, where being bold in your green claims works. People are not interested in tame stories like: “This sneaker is made of 1% recycled ocean plastic”. They are more likely to buy shoes from brands that simply claim to use ocean plastic, without telling the full story.
Especially for lesser-known brands wanting to make a splash, it can be tempting to get ahead of yourself and make claims that are not yet true for your business. Instead, you need to be patient. Only state what you know is true or you will be able to achieve in a realistic timespan. To stay with the sneaker example: if you’re saying that you will make the world’s first sneaker made from ocean plastic by 2025, you must be confident that the product won’t contain any virgin plastic by that deadline. Sharing a realistic vision will provide you with more credibility and less potential for harsh questions and critique.
2: Be aware of the language and imagery you use
It’s also important to avoid using buzzwords if they don’t strictly apply to you. Terms like ‘eco-friendly’, ‘plastic-free’ or ‘carbon neutral’ can boost engagement, but they have very specific meanings that mean that, if misused, your business could be making false claims. If you want to employ these terms, do your research to make sure they definitely apply first.
Greenwashing is not only done through language. Maybe you are avoiding using misleading terms, but if you use green images to accompany your product, subtly giving the impression that a product is ‘green’ when it isn’t, this is just as misleading. It is less blatant, and may even be unintentional on your part, but if it misleads, it is still greenwashing. Furthermore, typical ‘green’ images such as a hand holding a seedling or images of the earth are overused and often don’t help your brand anyway. Stick to what makes your brand unique, and accurately represents your offering.
3: You are data-driven – share what you can
As a startup, you’re driven by data when making decisions and steering your business. Compared to traditional players, this is an advantage – you already have data ready to share and back up your environmental claims.
Wherever you can, use that data in your communications to underpin your impact and prove that you are serious about the claims you are making. If you’re producing a new kind of fuel, you could communicate the litres you’re able to produce. If you’re in the electricity business, you may communicate the megawatt-hours of green electricity and the associated CO2 savings. Make sure to only share what you’re comfortable with: Remember that once a metric is out there, you can’t really take it back without questions.
4: Put numbers into perspective
Your impact will be initially relatively small while still in the start-up stage. This leaves you with the dilemma of not wanting to greenwash by overstating your impact, but also not wanting to undersell yourself.
The solution is to put the statistics you do have in perspective and to focus on your long-term vision. Maybe your solution will reduce CO2 emissions by x million tonnes by 2030, which equals as much as the footprint of a city such as Lisbon. Framed this way, your impact is much more understandable for the average customer. It also gives you leeway: the goal and ambition is clear, now it’s time to put this into practice.
5: Let others speak on your behalf
You can claim anything you want (well, with the EU Directive not so easily anymore…), but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s correct. Without some sort of reinforcement – in the form of hard data or the backing of another – observers are less likely to accept your statements at face value.
Letting others speak on your behalf is an effective way of underpinning your credibility and minimizing the risk of greenwashing – their backing is powerful as by supporting you, they are putting their reputation on the line as well. Consider teaming up with a trusted partner to communicate each others’ sustainability credentials to strengthen your claims.
Now you have all the information you need to ensure your communications don’t cross the line and accidentally greenwash. It can be a fine line to tread, but if you make sure to never exaggerate, always back up your claims, and let others speak for you when you can, you can be confident that you are sharing your sustainability credentials ethically, without the risk of greenwashing.
