[News Terms] Greenwashing: Eco-Friendly in Name Only

Last July, a Swiss consumer organization filed a series of lawsuits against six globally recognized companies. The reason was that these companies were accused of being 'greenwashing' companies that deceive consumers by pretending to be eco-friendly. The defendants included beverage company Coca-Cola, car rental company Avis, Switzerland's top telecommunications company Swisscom, Swiss heating oil distributor Kubler Heizol, real estate sales company Agent Sellie, and the Zurich Zoo in Switzerland. The Swiss Consumer Protection Foundation (SKS), the plaintiff in the lawsuits, stated in a press release, "Consumers are being deceived by the advertisements of the companies we sued. More and more products and services are being advertised with eco-friendly slogans." SKS also pointed out, "Advertisements linking mobile phone service subscriptions or heating oil usage to carbon neutrality are emerging, but according to our analysis, many claims are exaggerated or unfounded."

Greenwashing is a compound word of 'green' and 'whitewashing,' referring to the act of promoting something as eco-friendly when it is not actually environmentally friendly. It is also called 'pseudo-environmentalism.' This behavior includes downplaying environmental pollution issues throughout the entire production process of a product while highlighting only certain processes such as recycling to make it appear eco-friendly. It also includes cases where only eco-friendly materials are emphasized without explaining the manufacturing process or where only recycling is promoted.

For example, a franchise coffee shop promoted itself as 'eco-friendly' by introducing paper straws, but at the same time, it conducted marketing activities by distributing plastic promotional goods (souvenirs). They claimed to introduce 'reusable' cups instead of disposable cups, but the actual product was a somewhat thick container made of polypropylene material, raising doubts about whether it could truly be called environmental protection.

The term greenwashing was first used in the 1980s by American environmental activist Jay Westervelt to criticize companies' fake eco-friendly promotions. It gained renewed attention in 2007 when the marketing company TerraChoice published a report titled 'The Six Sins of Greenwashing.' One more criterion was added to this report, and currently, there are seven criteria to identify cases of 'greenwashing': ▲ hiding trade-offs (emphasizing only some eco-friendly attributes while hiding other environmental impacts), ▲ lack of proof (claiming eco-friendliness without evidence), ▲ vague claims, ▲ inappropriate certification labels, ▲ irrelevant claims, ▲ justifying harmful products (applying eco-friendly elements to environmentally harmful products), and ▲ lying.