Environmental Sociology The Seven Sins of Greenwashing Products

by: Bailey Schultz

What is Greenwashing?

Its is the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product

What is wrong with Greenwashing?

What’s wrong with greenwashing?

well intended consumers can be misled into purchases that do not deliver on that environmental promise

competitive pressure from illegitimate claims can take market share away from legitimate products

can lead to cynicism and doubt about all environmental claims

Hidden Trade-Offs

Suggesting a product is ‘green’ based on: narrow set of attributes without attention to other environmental impacts

Emphasis on highly visible actions while other more environmental degrading activities take place out of sight

Sustainably harvested does not mean

Sustainably produced

Lack Of Proof

Suggesting a product is ‘green’ based on: An environmental claim that cannot be substantiated by easily accessible information

Lack of reliable third-party certification

Post-Consumer Waste Recycled?

Says who?

65% recycled

Vague ClaimsA claim that is poorly defined or so broad that its real meaning is likely to be misunderstood

Natural is the biggest culprit

Arsenic, uranium, mercury, and formaldehyde are all natural- but poisonous

Irrelevant Claims

Using Claims such as CFC-FREE which has no relevance to a product because CFC’s were banned in 1987

Lesser of Two Evils

Claims that may be true within a product category, but intentionally distract the consumer from the broader environmental impacts of the category as a whole

ex: 2013 Cadillac Escalante Hybrid? 23 as opposed to 20

Outright Lies

The least frequent form of greenwashing, by making environmental claims that are outright false

LG caught cheating to achieve Energy Star Rating

Test equipment installed with hidden devices to aid in power-efficiency testing

The Feather-Duster Fly-Strip Air Freshner

False Labeling

An effort to exploit modern consumers’ demand for third party certification with fake labels or claims of third-party endorsement

Stay Informed

http://www.greenwashingindex.com/

http://sinsofgreenwashing.org/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RskNNdH8ZA0

http://www.stopgreenwash.org/