Willemijn van Dolen | There’s no such thing as green fairy tales

Sustainability has become an indispensable part of marketing. This also sets off a disturbing trend: some companies, consciously or not, present themselves as green without supporting their claims with concrete actions, or greenwashing. General terms such as sustainable, environmentally friendly, or CO2 neutral are often too general and misleading. In recent days, the Advertising Code Committee reprimanded Primark for sustainability claims on their posters such as ‘reduce CO2 emissions by 50% so that the planet can breathe freely’ and ‘organic, recycled, sustainable and affordable cotton’.

Ban on generic claims

Supervision by the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) ensured that companies such as Vattenfall, H&M, Decathlon, Greenchoice and Ryanair have agreed to adjust or no longer use certain sustainability claims. Also as far as the European Commission is concerned, generic claims such as ‘green’, ‘eco’ and ‘nature’s friend’ will soon no longer be allowed. Earlier this year, the Commission proposed a directive that requires companies to substantiate green claims, the so-called Green Claims Directive.

It is good that there is supervision and the European Commission is issuing directives. Greenwashing leads to confusion among consumers, it undermines consumer confidence in companies and it also harms companies and initiatives of companies that are actually more sustainable. From the perspective of the sustainability transition, greenwashing benefits no one, including marketers. Greenwashing is not marketing. It’s deception.

Shut up

As a result of the increasing attention to greenwashing, we also see another trend emerging: greenhushing. This is precisely the failure to communicate about progress in the field of sustainability. A company is indeed becoming more sustainable, but, afraid of being accused of greenwashing, they choose to remain silent about it. This didn't help us either. It makes it difficult for consumers to choose a more sustainable product if a company says nothing about it.

Time for a new trend, the transparency trend. Communicate about sustainability honestly and with some modesty and be as factual and transparent as possible. If you have not yet made progress in terms of sustainability in certain areas, it is better to be transparent about that. Don’t be too afraid, criticism is part of it. Viewed in this way, transparency can become a distinguishing feature of companies, namely being honest about progress. Being completely sustainable is not yet possible. Although the progress is not yet dark green, it is at least the honest story.

‘Green talk’

Transparency will be a new mode that companies will have to get used to. With the introduction of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive on January 1, 2024, companies will be required to report on sustainability in their annual reports. Due to the clear requirements that are imposed on the data provided, these reports can actually help marketing.

In the recent ‘Green Talk’ campaign, the ACM calls on consumers to question companies on the substantiation of their sustainability claims, in other words for transparency. This can also help. Yet, in my opinion, the responsibility remains with companies. How can a consumer know whether a sneaker is truly sustainably made? Analyzing the sustainability impact in the life cycle of a product (life cycle assessment, or LCA) is a profession in itself. We will really have to be able to trust companies, their green eyes.

Willemijn van Dolen is professor of marketing at the Faculty of Economics and Business