Explained | What is ‘greenwashing’?
The Hindu
The practice refers to misleading and exaggerated claims to deceive people about the environmental worthiness of a product or action
The story so far: At the ongoing COP27 conference, Secretary-General of the United Nations (U.N.), António Guterres said, “We must have zero tolerance for net-zero greenwashing.” He made the remarks during the launch of a report, titled ‘Integrity Matters: Net Zero Commitments by Businesses, Financial Institutions, Cities and Regions’, by the organisation’s High-Level Expert Group, instituted in March this year.
Referring to the recent net-zero commitments made by private companies and sovereigns, the Secretary-General observed that they had “varying levels of rigour and loopholes wide enough to drive a diesel truck through.”
Catherine Mckenna, the chair of the committee, also expressed a similar viewpoint, saying that “bogus net-zero claims drive up the cost that ultimately everyone would pay. Including people not in this room, through huge impact, climate migrations and their very lives.”
Greenwashing refers to misleading the general public into believing that companies, sovereigns or civic administrators are doing more for the environment than they actually are. This may involve making a product or policy seem more environmentally friendly or less damaging than it is in reality.
The term was coined by environmentalist Jay Westerveld in 1986. During a 1983 stay in Fiji, he came across notes next to towels in a particular resort. The note asked customers to reuse the towels and help reduce ecological damage to the ocean and the coral reefs. While it may appear to be an environment-friendly practice, in reality, the endeavour was for the hotel to save up on laundry bills. In fact, as Mr Westerveld told The Guardian, “They were in the middle of expanding at the time and were building more bungalows.”
The phenomenon came into practice as consumers and regulators, owing to greater awareness and environmental consciousness, increasingly sought to explore planet-friendly, recyclable and sustainable ‘green’ products. By 2015, 66% of consumers were willing to shell out more for a product that was environmentally sustainable.
Although several companies, cities, states and regions have committed to reaching net-zero, in the absence of regulation, a lot of these pledges are not aligned with the science to achieving the same and do not have enough detail to be credible, the report notes.