Greenwashing, & its dangers in the fight against climate change?

Commitment to the mitigation of climate change, a word is being used prevalently. The word is Greenwashing. The word isn’t what it sounds like

By Pallav Jain 09 Nov 2022

New Update

Amidst the greater scrutiny of the world on an organisation’s environmental policies, and their commitment to the mitigation of climate change, a word is being used prevalently. The word is Greenwashing. The word isn’t what it sounds like, but rather exactly the opposite.

Greenwashing is termed a marketing term used for green PR which aims to promote a company’s policies in line with its environmental goals. ‘Green sheen’ is also used as an alternative to the word. ‘Greenwashing’ word is picked up from ‘whitewashing’ which means to deliberately conceal unpleasant information or act.

The deliberate attempt to propagate false claims by companies can endanger the world’s fight against climate change. The false information can impact policy-making, as well as investment in the necessary sectors

#COP27 and Greenwashing

Net zero commitments can't be a mere public relations exercise if we want to win the fight against climate change.

We must have zero tolerance for greenwashing.

The report from my Net-Zero Expert Group will help us move to the net-zero future we need: https://t.co/tvMrDeY4ye pic.twitter.com/ZSmWdd5rCH
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) November 8, 2022

UN, at #COP27 in Egypt, pointed out the red flag of greenwashing. In the report by the groups of UN, experts said the companies are making bogus claims, instead of having robust plans to reduce carbon emissions. The companies many pledges of ‘net-zero’ emissions for strong PR, but there are no results.

The UN Secretary-General at the launch of the report said,

“We must have zero tolerance for net-zero greenwashing…a how-to guide to ensure credible, accountable net-zero pledges,”

In the speech, he pointed out that adherence to the pledges or the claims helps us fight the consequences of climate change better. He added, it gives such clarity in four key areas i.e. environmental integrity, credibility, accountability, and the role of governments. The impact of the current actions needs to be gauged, so that future plans could be laid out effectively.

The experts point out that the companies for a long time have hidden behind ‘net zero emissions’, and ‘carbon offsets’, instead of actually reducing the company's zero emissions. The report says the consequences of the bogus claims would be paid by everyone.