Are your favourite brands truly eco-friendly — or just pretending to be? 🌱 In this episode, we dive into the world of greenwashing, where companies use misleading marketing to appear environmentally responsible without making real changes.
We’ll explore:
🌎What greenwashing is and how to spot it
🌎How you can make more informed, sustainable choices
Whether you're an eco-conscious shopper or just curious about corporate ethics, this episode will help you to make informed choices about green ethics and how to avoid company's that employ greenwashing.
🔔 Subscribe for more insights on sustainability and ethics
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You watch this episode on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/y1aoTTiVQx0
Check out Ep 69 for more on ethical buzz words, including greenwashing and wishcycling.
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Episode Transcript
Welcome to series two of the Challengeto Change podcast, which is now
part of the Cheshire East family.
Whether you are listening orwatching, welcome to the podcast.
If you're new here, this podcastis all about the little changes
we can all make to have apositive effect upon planet Earth.
(00:31):
Please do take the time to like,subscribe, comment, and share.
Hi there, and welcome to this episodeof The Challenge to Change podcast.
So this episode is all aboutsomething called greenwashing.
It may be a term thatyou are familiar with.
It may be somethingthat you've heard about.
(00:53):
And in fact, if you do a searchonline, you'll see that it is a
phrase that is trending at themoment, environmentally speaking.
So what actually is it and is itsomething that as individuals, as
consumers, we need to be concerned about?
Well, the answer to that question,it is actually worthwhile having
(01:15):
an awareness of greenwashing andconsidering what we can do as consumers
to try to avoid this kind of issue.
So first of all, I'm going explainwhat greenwashing actually is.
So it is basically where a companywill make a claim, an ethical claim,
(01:37):
um, and that claim turns out to beinaccurate or not wholly accurate.
So it's basically making ethicalstatements, presenting if you
like, an ethical vibe on a companywebsite or even in a physical
store or something like that.
But if you sort of look behind the scenes,if you do some research, it transpires
(02:01):
that those claims are not accurate.
So, of course if you are someone whowants to make purchases with an ethical
aim in mind, it stands to reason thatwe would want to avoid any false claims.
So what can we do?
How can we ensure that where we'rebuying the things that, you know, where
(02:24):
we're making those purchases, how canwe ensure that we avoid greenwashing?
Well, the first thing that wecan do is basically find out
about the company in question.
If it's not a company that you are veryfamiliar with, that you know and you know
well, so I'm thinking here more like anindependent, that you have a relationship
(02:48):
with, if you like, as a consumer.
So if you don't know the organizationthat it's worthwhile looking at
the company website and doinga little bit of research there.
Another thing that you can do is tocheck if the ethical claims have been
confirmed by some kind of regulatory body.
(03:10):
So I'm going to give you alist of a few organisations.
So we have Fair Trade International,Global Organic Textile, Standard,
Rainforest Alliance, ForestStewardship Council or FSC for short.
And also Leaping Bunny as well.
(03:30):
So there will be others.
So it is worthwhiledoing your own research.
Another thing that we can do againas consumers is have a look on
the Ethical Consumers website.
It's worth considering as well thatlots of companies do, of course,
have actual green credentials.
There are companies that genuinelydo care about planet Earth.
(03:54):
Just because greenwashing exists doesn'tmean that all the companies that we
think of as being green, we think ofas being ethical, are not ethical.
Whilst it may be important, as aconsumer, to look into a company that
we're buying something from, there'sno reason to presume that all companies
are not as ethical as they claim.
(04:16):
So it's just a case ofbeing mindful and checking.
Another thing to bear in mind, iswhy would a company make an ethical
claim with no evidence behind it?
Well, the simple answer tothat is that companies, of
course, are there to make money.
So green credentials or the appearanceof green credentials might not only
(04:40):
look good for planet Earth, but also itdoes give a sense that a company cares.
And if a company cares, then asindividuals, we might be more
inclined to make a purchase fromthem because it gives the sense of
trust, it gives the sense of caring.
So that might make us be more inclinedto part with our hard earned cash.
(05:03):
But of course, we don't want to actuallydo that unless we are sure that the
company in question is genuinelyas ethical as they claim to be.
So alongside the things that I'vealready mentioned, so looking at
regulatory bodies, you can also lookat the fine print on a company website.
(05:25):
So look in more detail aboutthe claims that they make.
Ethical claims will be backed with somekind of research, some kind of data.
So look out for that.
Another thing to bear in mind.
So if a company states that theyuse recycled packaging, but they
are a producer of fast fashion, thenreally in that sense, one action
(05:51):
is kind of canceling out the other.
Now in this case, it's reallyup to the individual to make
their own decisions there.
It may well be that as aconsumer, perhaps you're not that
concerned about fast fashion.
But you do want to buy somethingwhere the packaging is recycled.
So it's very much up to the individual.
(06:11):
However, it's definitely possibleto say that if an organisation does
one ethical thing, but it's canceledout by another unethical thing, then
it might not be the company thatwe want to make a purchase from.
Another thing to look out for is branding.
Now of course, all companiesuse branding and some obviously
(06:33):
use it a lot better than others.
So in some cases, the branding may givethe impression of an ethical organisation
or environmentally friendly organisation.
So branding can sometimes give theimpression of ethics, but it's only
evidence that demonstrates ethics.
(06:56):
Of course, it's wonderful to seelots of positive environmental
images on a company website, butit's only hard data that actually
demonstrates what those ethics are.
Basically, don't allow yourselfto be swept along with beautiful
images and actually look at thefine print, look at the data, and
(07:17):
look to see if there is a regulatorybody that is approving, confirming
what these companies are saying.
Another thing that we can do, andit's really, really easy, is just
literally do a quick search onlineto find out more about the brand in
question, the company in question.
So in summary, if you want to avoidgreenwashing, it's definitely worthwhile
(07:44):
taking your time before making a purchase.
And perhaps as well as consumers,we might want to do that anyway.
Anytime we make a purchase, we'reparting with our hard earned cash.
So if we do care about ethicalcredentials, it's certainly worthwhile
choosing a company that genuinelydoes have ethical credentials.
(08:06):
Not only will this protect your pocketor your purse, it also ensures that
companies that genuinely do haveethical credentials are able to prosper,
are able to do well, and are able tokeep making a difference by actually
adhering to those ethical credentials.
(08:27):
And not only that, it also reducesthe potential for greenwashing going
forward because those companiesthat are not actually operating
within an ethical framework but areonly stating that they are will be
less able to continue to do that.
(08:47):
Thank you so much for watchingthis super short episode of The
Challenge to Change podcast.
I hope you found some of theinformation that I've shared useful.
As ever, please do take the timeto like, subscribe and share.
Thanks so much for being here,and I will return for another
(09:08):
podcast episode really soon.
Bye for now.
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