5 Ways to Spot Greenwashing

By now, most of us have heard the term Greenwashing. It describes companies trying to appear greener than they are. No one wants to be misled by companies making fake or embellished claims.

Here are 5 ways to spot Greenwashing:

  1. A company that makes vague claims with no real description.  Statements like “eco-friendly” or “we care about sustainability” offer no explanation of how they achieve this.
  2. A company offers no evidence proving what they say is true.  Or make claims that can’t possibly be proven.
  3. Using one green aspect of the business detracts attention from other parts of the company that are not sustainably produced. Ex. A fashion brand claiming one of its labels is ‘green’ to divert attention from how the other lines are made.
  4. Making irrelevant claims. For example, A soup company claims the tomatoes they use are non-GMO when there aren’t now, nor have there been GMO-produced tomatoes.
  5. Claiming to be the lesser of two evils.  A company is making a true claim to detract from the overall negative impact of its product – for example organically grown cigarettes. 

The common theme here is the lack of transparency. You can not build real trust based on just “talking the talk”, customers eventually lose their trust in the brand claiming to have an ESG program but actually greenwashing instead.

Companies using clearESG are trustworthy, why? because their ESG claims are proofed. With clearESG, companies must attest a 3rd party evidence on the blockchain in order to get their ESG merit badges. clearESG helps brands build real trust and transparency to the public.

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