{"id":1164,"date":"2016-01-22T16:35:00","date_gmt":"2016-01-22T16:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitaldots.info\/?p=1164"},"modified":"2024-01-24T16:36:50","modified_gmt":"2024-01-24T16:36:50","slug":"spotters-guide-to-greenwashing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitaldots.info\/?p=1164","title":{"rendered":"Spotters Guide to Greenwashing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"\" The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s everywhere and it\u2019s pernicious. Greenwashing, the cloaking of a marketing intent in the language of sustainability and environmental awareness, is on the rise. Greenwashing undermines the credibility of those doing their best to develop sustainable media businesses. Worse still it is downright lazy and irresponsible, especially where large companies are concerned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spotting greenwash is an uncertain sport, because there are no rules. What an oil and gas company considers sustainable is unlikely to be what Greenpeace considers sustainable. Somewhere in between the two extremes is a reasonable stance that suits most businesses. You can generally get a hint that an organisation is greenwashing, if they make statements along the following lines:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 \u201cWe have sustainability as a theme.\u201d Generally applied to events and promotional projects, it\u2019s meaningless. Sustainability is more than a fleeting concept and should apply to the entire enterprise, all the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 \u201cWe follow environmental standards.\u201d If the company doesn\u2019t name the standard and what it\u2019s for, or cannot be specific about their own standard, it\u2019s safe to say that the commitment isn\u2019t really there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 \u201cAll of our equipment and processes are sustainable.\u201d This is unlikely to have very much to do with the environment and lots to do with profits and efficiency. The two go hand in hand, but don\u2019t mistake statements like this for green credentials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 \u201cOur company is a responsible corporate citizen playing a positive environmental role.\u201d And then what? Saying you are an environmentally responsible company is not the same as being one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 \u201cWe comply with all relevant environmental laws and regulations.\u201d A fundamental for doing business, but sustainability requires leadership and commitment rather than being legislative sheep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 \u201cClimate protection and saving resources is important to our corporate philosophy.\u201d Fine and about as empty as it comes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 \u201cWe will fulfill your environmental requirements.\u201d Another meaningless platitude: customers want more than hollow promises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022\u201cWe provide green services.\u201d Not much more than nothingness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 \u201cOur environmental policy is available on application.\u201d This is particularly suspicious, because there can be nothing sensitive about an environmental policy statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you don\u2019t want to fall victim to greenwashing, work with companies who can make specific statements about their sustainability. Look for real words, not vague marketing blather. Businesses with a sincere commitment to environmental impact mitigation will use the language of sustainability. They will talk about minimising waste, managing energy emissions, calculating carbon footprints and compliance to standards such as ISO 50001 (Energy management) and ISO 14001 (Environmental management. Look for cogent environmental policies and positioning statements. Remember that unless a company is specific, their sincerity is questionable. Greenwashing is pernicious because it undermines peoples\u2019 trust in the seriousness of the environmental problems facing the planet. It should be challenged at every opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Laurel Brunner<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner It\u2019s everywhere and it\u2019s pernicious. Greenwashing, the cloaking of a marketing intent in the language of sustainability and environmental awareness, is on the rise. Greenwashing undermines the credibility of those doing their best to develop sustainable media businesses. Worse still it is downright lazy and irresponsible, especially where … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaldots.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaldots.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaldots.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaldots.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaldots.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1164"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/digitaldots.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1165,"href":"https:\/\/digitaldots.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1164\/revisions\/1165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaldots.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaldots.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaldots.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}