Background
As environmental awareness has increased among the common people, they have realized that there are many benefits to being environmentally conscious. The demand for environmentally friendly products is high, and consumers are choosing healthier products.
Companies are being punished by customers, clients, and the stock market for being environmentally uninterrupted, unstable, or polluted. There has been a similar increase in the dishonest practice of demanding green certificates for such clean and green demands, but in reality, there is nothing or very little. Companies are working on products that are made from modified materials that have a larger carbon footprint than the original material -all of these practices are called "greenwashing".
In other words, when companies spend more time promoting and investing money in promoting their product or brand as "green" rather than working hard to ensure how sustainable it is, this is called "greenwashing." Practicing greenwashing is a fraudulent business venture. The companies that are affiliated with Greenwashing try to make their products look very environmentally friendly when often they are not. In short, companies that are unhealthy and not environmentally friendly claim that their products are environmentally safe and ecofriendly or offer some green benefits, they are involved in “greenwashing”.
History of Greenwashing
Greenwashing is not a new word, nor is it a recent phenomenon. The term has been widely accepted since 1985 for claiming to be sustainable, eco-friendly, eco-friendly, etc. in an attempt to capture the market. While environmentalist Jay Westerveld encourages hotel guests to reuse towels in an effort to help the environment, the practice was observed when the term "greenwashing" was thought to have arisen in the 1980s (Ferrer, 2020).
This suggests that hotels are striving to be more environmentally healthy. The reality was that there was no other positive aspect from the environmental point of view for this purpose and only laundry expenses saved a lot of money. Hotels had to enjoy low-cost laundry. Although "greenwashing" has been around for a long time, some companies are increasingly using the tag in recent years due to the increasing demand for environmentally friendly, sustainable, greener products. “Greenwashing” is becoming a common problem in this era.
Introduction
One of the major concerns of humankind in the 21st century is environmental sustainability. It is the most alarming issue of the current world which has agitated governments, corporations, and individuals from all over the globe. The main contribution towards environmental degradation has been made by corporations around the world who have used the opportunity provided by globalization to set up in different parts of the world and have polluted the environment in different ways. This includes emission of greenhouse gases, disposal of harmful waste materials, extraction of materials that are important for the sustainability of the environment, etc. This has caused global warming, depletion of the ozone layer, and thus, climate change. All these have raised questions over environmental sustainability and whether humans can survive in a continuously degrading environment in the long run. As a result, governments in the majority of the countries have imposed rules and restrictions for corporations to be more environmentally friendly.
However, the imposition of such rules and regulations has not stopped corporations from degrading the environment for their profits and they have found different ways to manipulate governments and their customers to believe that their actions and products are very environmentally friendly. One of such ways of manipulation is known as Greenwashing.
Greenwashing is a practice implemented by the majority of corporations in today’s world where misleading claims are made about the environmental impacts of their products and activities. This is to portray that their organization is more environmentally friendly than it actually is. Nowadays, corporations are spending millions of dollars to convey this message through advertisements rather than actually investing to make their products or activities less harmful to the environment. The main audience who are being brainwashed through such advertisements is their customers and governments, who are being manipulated by their marketing strategies. And, to serve their purpose, corporations from all industries are using different greenwashing methods.
Why is there greenwashing?
- Environmental Impacts of Greenwashing: Greenwashing makes the environmental lifestyle become more costly and away from accessible as Companies are impressed the customer that their products are so sustainable than they actually are. As the companies are not clear about the manufacturing process of how their products are made. As a result, they misled and confused the customer. Even water companies try to overrepresent the benefit of green but they are not concerned about the color and the plastic they are using and the bad impact of packaging of their product on the environment.
- Greenwashing Marketing: Greenwashing is also called green sheen which is a kind of marketing strategy by which companies, products, and business models are being practiced falsely or excessively as they are more environmentally friendly. People always have soft corners in their minds about green and the environment. But there is a line between green marketing and greenwashing as green marketing is about being environmental positive, practical, honest, and transparent which ensures the quality of services that meet some of the criteria:
- Sustainability.
- Free from toxic materials.
- Able to recycle.
- Made from renewable materials.
- Ensure more disposable rather than repairable.
- Consumer behavior: The behavior of consumers is characterized by the direct involvement of consumers in obtaining, disposing, and consuming the products and services influenced by a group or an organization. The impact of consumer behavior is considered on the environment and society so important because it might have the inferences for the environment, society, and economy. Greenwashing may have positive or negative influences on consumers’ attitudes and beliefs when buying green and environmentally friendly products.
- Green business: Green Business is a business strategy that uses sustainable materials for its product. Green business industries have the aim to use as sufficient water, energy, and raw materials as possible cutting carbon emissions and finding ways of utilizing these materials in renewable and eco-friendly ways. This business approach minimizes the companies' natural resources and contributes them to climate change to ensure the waste generated to use as reusable energy or raw material. Companies use the green business model as considered Eco-friendly companies. These business initiatives have become a major driving force toward sustainable development across the world.
- Green consumption: By increasing the consumption of green products and services has an opportunity to encourage the adoption and practice of environmentally friendly goods in many organizations, also creating a positive vibe for the environment and society.
Possible solutions
Nowadays people are getting more aware of climate change and want to do something on their own to prevent it. That’s the reason in today's business world, companies are trying to be environment-friendly a.k.a green. But getting the green badge is a pretty hard and expensive process for a company. Marketing hype combined with a lack of industry regulation is used to engage and exploit people’s growing interest in caring for nature and green ethics. Promoting false and misleading information about products is easy for large corporations because of their huge marketing budgets, ultimately consumers are becoming the victim of corporate greenwashing.
1. Strict Rules and Regulations
To prevent greenwashing, the first step is to establish strict rules and regulations by the government. Once clear government action on regulations is placed, companies will think twice before manipulating consumers with their green tactics.20
2. Public Awareness
People are unaware of industrial regulation, that is the reason greenwashing exists in the first place. There should be large campaigns by government and non-profit organizations to make people aware of greenwashing by providing them basic information about it. Consumers must know the truth and demand the facts about the companies and their products.
3. Requirement of Certificate
For a company to announce itself as green, it must meet the standards of a third-party environmental certification service, and comply with all the requirements. These certification agencies will be responsible if a company approved by them is proven to be greenwashing.
4. Implementing Carbon Emission Accounting Principles
Companies must reduce their carbon footprint and use of fuel and energy. Besides, all emissions need to be measured and reported accurately, and if they pass a certain level, the company will lose the green badge.
5. Awards and Recognition
There should be special awards to recognize companies that are carbon-neutral. This will encourage other companies to make their products and production processes environment-friendly.
6. Promote Recycling
Companies must try to make their products recyclable. Recycling reduces the need for extracting, mining, refining, and processing raw materials all of which pollute the environment even before the company starts to produce its own products.