Name: Vaibhav Harlalka
Name of School: Sanskriti the Gurukul
The 21st century where, venture of changes seemed inevitable consisted of both pros and cons, while we progressed in multiple fields of aero-tech,space engineering etc. Innovation built many bridges to advancements but we had left trails of footstep behind which had brought environmental concerns,health issues and depletion of resources etc. Problems expanded like the universe which was an endless chain emerging but the one which brought the vast majority of concerns was climate change. Climate change concerns now were spread upon a global scale, so finally now it gained attention and major remedies of stopping it started with organisations
like the World Meteorological Organization . The drastic step in their motive was to make policies and acceptance of them world-wide created turnovers of companies meeting their ends, so two sets of companies emerged, one loyal to their policies and diversified aims on attaining growth with compliance while other pretended to
comply with policies while keeping aims stuck to profits while not being part of long term environmental goals to give a terminology it can be classified as “Greenwashing”.
What is Greenwashing and why are concerns rapidly growing through this activity?
Greenwashing is a deceptive tactic of companies to portray their motives of policies,aims and claims to be environmentally friendly but in reality it fails to meet basic sustainability standards like Coca-Cola being sponsored and advocated in being the highest polluter . Concerns are facing rapid growth through such activity as it promotes long term impacts which creates a lasting impact like mistrust growing between bodies ,consumers lack of trust to believe in eco-friendly brands,increase rate in pollution and a lot more. Qatar for the 2022 World Cup had made claims to be carbon neutral but faced a penalty for linking with greenwashing. This activity impacts lies in anticipation, grasping such ability makes organisational formation inevitable which has a task and they make policies or acts which help in completion of such tasks. Global bodies are launching operations to stop it and have caught quite few of them like Coca-Cola which gives a stepping stone for change and adapt to healthier methods.
What are fake environmental claims and how to spot them?
Fake environmental claims are the ways of greenwashing to fool an individual multiplying in misconclusion among customers.Many tactics are emerging and being practiced to fool the consumer but currently it is getting spotted by bigger bodies and you can also be a part of it by spotting these claims and lowering such impact. In order to prevent it, understanding what are the ways can be crucial for raw identification. Companies use vague terminology such as “Green”,”Natural” etc like the industry of juices adding artificial flavour and use vague buzzoffs fooling the customer to be fresh in nature , quite a number of authentic companies are equipped with third party certifications where companies not equipped with them may induce themselves in greenwashing like H&M since 2022 became dependent upon independent labels rather than global certified labels later it was found that it was induced in greenwashing by HIGGS, H&M which factually gave the wrong environmental index number, they infact keep hidden trade offs they emphasize their small eco-friendly efforts and keep their bigger impacts hidden affecting the environment like in 2018 Starbucks showcased their new sipper cups as a way to
eliminating one billion plastic. The catch? It turned out the new cup actually contained more plastic by weight than the older lid and cup combined; their claims are not verified either by public/private sources or third party certificates, they make irrelevant claims which is technically true but meaningless but “CFC-free” a term which is already required by law like many aerosol companies in the late 1980s and 90s portrayed their hairspray and spray paint to be CFC-free which was already prohibited by law, the lesser of the two evils is when companies portraying their products to be more environmentally friendly from their competitors but already damaging the environment like the term clean coal suggesting a greener source of energy while containing better carbon technology than traditional coal but it is still a fossil fuel significantly contributing to climate change than renewables source of wind or solar,they give outright lies about third party certification,presented emission of data and suggestive imagery presenting their product to be environmentally friendly by raw imagery for example SUV made an ad of presenting nature with the car ignoring its high carbon emission rate.
In order to spot these claims for complete analysis can be done by researching about the company with relation to its tactics giving a complete view upon their activity like look for comprehensive, transparent report upon these companies from official sites , read a fine print rather than searching for buzz words can be crucial as consisting of proper data, consider the product lifecycle like searching for environmental impact from production to dispersal and be aware about self-declared claims like companies make their own labels made to look official , so search for what the certifier is truly dependent upon what.
Greenwashing can be dangerous for the future and being aware and following routes of organisations can be a markstone for safeguarding the future. Keeping in mind about their tactics can be a step in order to meet with future goals, so it’s important to keep a track upon activities and you can also be recognised as you highlighted a company which is not kept in track of indulging in greenwashing can make people know about your doings and make a rise in your status . The facts shared in this article can be a key in spotting such activities. The disadvantages can be crucial to know its consequences and make us alert about it and companies are continuing to be better at greenwashing and organisations spotting them and now you can also be part of lessening the impact as you are the consumer who they are fooling.
