How to Avoid Greenwashing: Deceptive Practices in Sustainability and How Your Money Can Make a Difference

As people become more aware of the importance of sustainable living, the next step is to use their dollars to make a change. As they venture on the path towards sustainable purchasing, they will find it is littered with booby traps, pitfalls, and confusing signs known as greenwashing. Greenwashing can be an incredibly harmful and misleading practice that can discourage many from going green. In this article, we’ll go over how to avoid greenwashing, why it’s a problem, and how to find products/companies/organizations that are honest in their claims to be environmentally friendly. With the holiday season rapidly approaching, shopping green can send a strong message to those in charge that consumers won’t support damaging practices.

Defining Greenwashing

There are many definitions surrounding greenwashing, as no legal definition has been established yet. Therefore, the most helpful definition comes from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), which defines greenwashing as “when an organization creates the impression of sustainability through false statements or misleading claims.”

So why is greenwashing a problem? Why should we care? For one, if a consumer discovers they’ve purchased a product that has been greenwashed, they may feel that their sustainability efforts have been in vain and may be discouraged from shopping sustainably.

Additionally, greenwashing rewards companies for selling false narratives and lies to consumers, allowing them to continue to get away with harmful practices, while attracting a customer base that will pay a premium for “green” products — increased profit with decreased responsibility. Meanwhile, the companies actually making change aren’t rewarded for their efforts and can become discouraged when they see bigger companies getting away with greenwashing.

Finally, greenwashing is, for the most part, illegal. Multiple organizations have faced increased litigation for greenwashing practices, so not only does it jeopardize the common person’s wallet, but it can also harm the companies that engage in greenwashing in the first place.

How to Spot Greenwashing

Due to the deceptive nature of this practice, it can be hard for the average consumer to spot greenwashing occurring, largely because it takes time to research individual products and organizations. That’s time many don’t have when they’re standing in the grocery aisles staring at hundreds of supposedly “green” products.

There are two ways you can go about looking for greenwashing. The first, assuming you have time, is to look into the product for hints of greenwashing, and the second is through certifications. I’ll briefly be going over both here, but I recommend doing more research and checking out the Further Reading and Helpful Tools section at the end of this article for a deeper look.

Let’s say you have some time, either before you go shopping or while you’re staring at a green bottle of shampoo, to learn about greenwashing. How can you spot it? Some of these are easier to spot than others, so take your time and be thorough. According to the FSC, there are five common tactics used to greenwash something.

Greenwashing Tactic 1: Vague or Unsubstantiated Claims

Various buzzwords will be used in a product’s marketing to make it appear greener, things like “degradable” and “ocean plastic,” to name a few. For a deeper breakdown, check out the World Wildlife Fund’s Guide to Greenwashing.

If a product claims to be one thing without clear specifics, certifications, or data to back up the claim, that’s greenwashing. If they’re able to support their claims, then they’re being sustainable. Additionally, even if they provide data, if it’s difficult to find, that is a clear indication of the organization’s feelings regarding sustainability initiatives, so read the data closely to determine if they’re doing any good.

Greenwashing Tactic 2: Misleading Imagery

This is one of the biggest things you can look for. Companies and organizations know that having sustainable products will attract more customers and bring in a larger profit, but many don’t want to implement sustainable practices, so often they’ll turn to marketing and design to make their products appear eco-friendly. This is done with nature imagery and green packaging.

To avoid this, check their data as before, and look into a product’s lifecycle. What is it made of? How far did those materials have to travel to be made? How far did the product have to travel after being made? What will happen to it once you’re done using it? Can it be reused or recycled in some way? All of these questions should go into any purchase you make so as not to condone deceptive practices.

Greenwashing Tactic 3: Hidden Trade-Offs

This can be a tricky one. Companies do this by highlighting tiny things they’re doing sustainably, making them appear more impactful than they are while downplaying more serious or damaging practices. This requires deeper research than the other tactics, largely because companies will hide the data of their harmful practices. They might also try to distract you with claims about their tiny sustainable practice.

Hidden trade-offs often go hand-in-hand with vague claims because their small sustainable practice might not have as big an impact as they claim it to have, so they’ll downplay the data that says that.

Greenwashing Tactic 4: Exaggerated Claims

Similar to hidden trade-offs, companies will take a “sustainable feature” and use it on their product, when it’s not feasible for the average consumer to ensure that specific feature is sustainable. For example, some products will say they are compostable, but in truth, they’re not municipally compostable, only industrially, meaning they are only compostable through a company, not on their own. Therefore, the average consumer may purchase a product thinking they can compost it in their backyard when they’re done, when in reality, only specific conditions created in industrial settings will allow that product to break down.

Since there are little to no legal definitions for many terms consumers look for (bio, green, climate-friendly, etc.), companies are free to label their products as XYZ because technically they are, but the average consumer doesn’t know this and therefore can’t ensure the proper continuation of the product’s lifecycle.

Claims like these are misleading and can cause more harm than good because a consumer believes they’re making good choices when, in reality, they’re encouraging these harmful practices.

Greenwashing Tactic 5: Untrustworthy Certifications

Sometimes companies will put certification-adjacent images to trick consumers into thinking they have that certification. For example, they could put a modified bunny logo on their product to imitate the PETA animal cruelty-free logo. Let’s break down some official certifications so you know what to look for and what each one means. For a visual of each of these logos and more, check out the FSC’s article on 44 Sustainability Certifications.

Forest Stewardship Council – This certification attests that the paper products were designed to ensure the sustainable management of the forest. Includes things like compliance with local and international laws, upholding fair labor practices, protecting high conservation value areas, and more.

ISEAL Alliance – This certification confirms the company’s commitment to sustainability. Like a multiplier card in a game, adding this certification to a product and any other commitments to sustainability are more trustworthy.

B Corporation – Standing for Benefit Corporation, this label certifies that the organization underwent a rigorous, time-intensive assessment and was found to balance social, economic, and environmental goals. This is a strong indicator that the business is committed to being ethical and sustainable.

Rainforest Alliance – An organization with this certification is operating in ways that don’t damage rainforests or local agriculture. Includes things like biodiversity conservation, working conditions for farmers/workers, and farming practices with climate change in mind. This is a good certification to look for with cocoa and chocolate products.

Fairtrade – These products are being sourced ethically for the environment and the workers who interact with the product at any point.

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) – Offered by the U.S. Green Building Council and given to buildings, organizations, or companies (last two depending on circumstances). Proves that the project(s):

(1) used sustainable materials in construction

(2) were constructed with sustainability to minimize impact and

(3) promote the health and well-being of any occupants.

Leaping Bunny & PETA Cruelty-Free Certifications – These two certifications attest that this product was made without testing on animals. The Leaping Bunny Standard is a collection of eight different animal rights groups from around the world who came together to make the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics (CCIC), while PETA is an “international nonprofit charitable organization” according to their website. Both organizations’ certifications are worth looking for in health and beauty care products, where animal testing is most prevalent.

Avoiding Greenwashing Makes a Difference

Greenwashing is a harmful practice that undermines climate initiatives and creates an environment of distrust and deception. While it can be hard to spot, with time and effort, it can get easier. Do some research to learn more about greenwashing so that when you’re making your next purchases, you know you’re doing so with the earth in mind.

Use your dollars to tell greenwashing companies that we won’t allow their lies. While shopping for holiday gifts, be sure to support your loved ones and the planet by being mindful of where your gifts are coming from. Below are some more resources for you to peruse and expand your knowledge on this subject.

Every purchase makes a difference, and while we can’t buy our way out of the climate crisis, we can make a change; we can make that first step towards an authentically green future.