The Seven Sins of Greenwashing

We have prepared the following Guide for Marketers – to help companies avoid committing the Sins of Greenwashing and to help marketers and retailers win over consumers through genuine environmental marketing & communications.

Avoid the Sin of Worshiping False Labels

• If third-party endorsement of your claims is important: Get it, don’t fake it.
• Favor eco-labels that are themselves accredited, and that address the entire lifecycle of the product.

Avoid the Sin of the Hidden Trade-Off

• Start with an honest understanding of all of the environmental impacts of your product across its entire lifecycle.
• Emphasize specific messages (particularly when you know your audiences care about those issues) but don’t use single issues to distract attention from other impacts.
• Don’t make claims about a single environmental impact or benefit, without knowing how your product performs in terms of its other impacts, and without sharing that information with your customers.
• Pursue continual improvement of your environmental footprint (across the entire lifecycle), and encourage your customers to join you on that journey.

Avoid the Sin of No Proof

• Understand and confirm the scientific case behind each green marketing claim.
• Make evidence readily available, or rely on third-party certifications whose standards are publically available.

Avoid the Sin of Vagueness

• Use language that resonates with your customers, as long as that language is truthful.
• Don’t use vague names and terms (eg. ‘environmentally-friendly’) without providing precise explanations of your meaning.

Avoid the Sin of Irrelevance

• Don’t claim CFC-free, unless it is a legitimate point of competitive differentiation.
• ‘Don’t claim any environmental benefit that is shared by all or most of your competitors.

Avoid the Sin of the Lesser of Two Evils

• Help each customer find the product that is right for them, based on their needs and wants.
• Don’t try to make a customer feel ‘green’ about a choice that is harmful or unnecessary.

Avoid the Sin of Fibbing

• Tell the truth. Always.