The UN warns about deceptive tactics behind environmental claims:
Greenwashing is a significant obstacle in the fight against climate change. By convincing the public that a company or other organization is doing more to protect the environment than it actually is, greenwashing promotes false solutions to the climate crisis that delay and divert attention from concrete, credible action.
Greenwashing shows up in a variety of forms, some more obvious than others. Tactics include:
- Claiming a company is on track to reach net-zero polluting emissions when no credible plan is in place.
- Being deliberately vague about a company’s operations or the materials it uses.
- Applying deliberately misleading labels such as “green” or “eco-friendly” that have no standard definition and can easily be misinterpreted.
- Implying that a small improvement has a major impact, or promoting a product that merely meets minimum regulatory requirements as though it were significantly better than standard. Highlighting a single environmental feature while ignoring other impacts.
- Claiming to avoid illegal or substandard practices that are unrelated to a given product in the first place.
- Communicating a product’s sustainability features separately from brand activities (and vice versa) — “like a garment made from recycled materials that was produced in a high-emission factory polluting the air and nearby waterways.”
Why does greenwashing matter, and how does it relate to climate change?
The science is clear: greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon and methane from human activity are wrapping the Earth in a blanket of pollution, warming the planet and driving severe impacts such as more intense storms, droughts, floods and wildfires.
To limit climate change and preserve a livable planet, emissions need to be cut by nearly half by 2030 and brought to net zero by 2050. Every fraction of a degree of warming matters, and as the former chair of the UN’s High-Level Expert Group on Net-Zero Commitments of Non-State Entities put it, “the planet cannot afford delays, excuses or more greenwashing.”
Greenwashing undermines credible efforts to cut emissions and address the climate crisis. Through deceptive marketing and false sustainability claims, it misleads consumers, investors and the public, eroding the trust, ambition and action needed to drive global change and secure a sustainable planet.
How is the UN fighting greenwashing?
Since the adoption of the Paris Agreement in 2015, a growing number of companies have pledged to bring their greenhouse gas emissions to net zero — a level at which remaining emissions are absorbed by forests, oceans or other “carbon sinks.” However, these pledges are often based on questionable schemes such as offsetting and “insetting” rather than actual emissions cuts. As a result, the transparency and integrity of such claims remains critically low, risking failure to deliver urgent climate action.
In response to the rise of greenwashing in net-zero pledges, the Secretary-General established a High-Level Expert Group tasked with developing stronger, clearer standards for net-zero emissions pledges made by companies, financial institutions, cities and regions, and with accelerating their implementation. In its report, “Integrity Matters,” the Expert Group outlined ten recommendations for credible, accountable net-zero pledges, detailing what is required at every stage of the path to net zero and to addressing the climate crisis. A checklist for companies to follow is available.
“To avert climate catastrophe, we need bold commitments matched by concrete, measurable action.” — Catherine McKenna, Chair of the High-Level Expert Group
Following the report, UN Climate Change published a Recognition and Accountability Framework and a Draft Implementation Plan to put the Expert Group’s recommendations into practice, increase transparency, and maximize the credibility of climate action pledges, plans and transition progress.
To further accelerate action and hear from “first movers and doers,” the UN Secretary-General convened a Climate Ambition Summit on 20 September 2023 at UN Headquarters in New York, built around three tracks — ambition, credibility and implementation — leaving “no room for backsliders, greenwashers, blame-shifters, or repackaging of previous years’ announcements.”
In his keynote address at World Environment Day 2024, the Secretary-General called for a global ban on fossil fuel advertising and urged agencies to stop helping fossil fuel companies with greenwashing.
What can you do?
- Learn more: As a consumer, understanding common greenwashing tactics and what constitutes sustainable practices and products is essential to recognizing and preventing greenwashing.
- Spend wisely: Where possible, take the time to research and choose products from companies that use resources responsibly and are committed to reducing their emissions and waste. A good place to start your research is checking whether a company aligns with any of the UN’s climate and sustainability initiatives, such as the UNFCCC’s Race to Zero or the Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action and the UN Alliance for Sustainable Fashion.
- Consider a product’s life cycle: When evaluating a product, it’s important to consider its entire life cycle — from raw material extraction to final disposal — while also accounting for the environmental consequences of its materials and packaging.
- Look for transparency and accountability: It’s often difficult to know whether companies are on track to meet their net-zero pledges, and the lack of standardized, comparable data makes it harder to assess progress. UN-backed credibility standards and criteria make it possible to reward leading organizations that are taking bold, credible steps.
https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/science/climate-issues/greenwashing