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Greenwashing is so widespread that it now has many faces. From the misleading label to the inversion of guilt, here are the specific practices of greenwashing, identified by the English think tank Planet Tracker.
At a time when consumers attach more and more importance to labeling and the origin of products, brands are called upon to review their copy. If some are trying to play the game, others unfortunately take a shortcut by drawing the greenwashing card. And the practice is so widespread that it even contains subcategories. Like “greenshifting”, spotted by the English think tank Planet Track and which recently published a report devoted to the subject on its website.
According to the definition given by Planet Track, “greenshifting” refers to the trend of companies deploying campaigns whose messages “imply that the consumer is at fault and that they hold them responsible”. An example ? The Anglo-Dutch company Shell, which caused a real outcry on Twitter in November 2020. It had launched a survey on the blue bird social network by directly calling on Internet users and asking them what they were ready to do “to help reduce their CO2 emissions”.
And the least we can say is that the pill has not passed. But Internet users are not the only ones to have rebelled. World-renowned personalities also reacted. “I’m ready to hold you to account for lying about climate change for 30 years, when you secretly knew all along that fossil fuel emissions were going to destroy our planet.“, for example, tweeted the American politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Sweden’s Greta Thunberg also posted a heartfelt message: “I don’t know about you, but I stand ready to speak out against fossil fuel companies who knowingly destroy future living conditions for countless generations for profit. , then attempt to divert people’s attention and prevent real systemic change through endless greenwashing campaigns.”
Shell’s facility that captures CO2 actually emits more than it is capturing. It has the same yearly carbon footprint as 1.2 million gas-powered cars.
This is exactly what happens when people in power care more about their reputation and imagery than to actually reduce emissions. https://t.co/OKek7gC9ET
— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) January 22, 2022
“Greenlighting”, “greencrowding”, “greenlabelling”…
Planet Tracker notes other practices such as “greenligthing”, “greenlabelling” or even “greencrowding”. The first refers to a company’s communications campaigns (including advertisements) that “highlight a particularly green feature of its business or products, no matter how small, in order to distract attention from harmful activities to the environment conducted elsewhere”. The second (“green labeling”) refers to the “green” or “sustainable” promises mentioned on the products, but whose careful examination of the labels quickly reveals the deception.
“Greencrowding” refers to “a sophisticated form of greenwashing which consists of hiding in the group and moving at the speed of the slowest”. We see this, for example, with large companies that adhere to programs with ambitious environmental objectives (zero plastic, carbon neutrality, etc.), while ensuring that they do not meet them. Their strategy? Blend into the crowd hoping to go unnoticed!
“Greenhushing”, which consists of silencing a company’s pro-environmental initiatives, is also on the think tank’s list. More ambiguous, this approach can sometimes become antagonistic to greenwashing. This is particularly the case for small businesses that are starting out and who do not dare to communicate with great fanfare about their eco-responsible approach, for fear of being accused of opportunism or being criticized for not “doing enough”.