Too good to be true: the greenwashers’ box of tricks
Companies are becoming ever craftier in their efforts to pose as more climate-friendly than they are
The name of the ruse: a taxonomy of greenwashing
Mechanism
- Misleading information
- Attention deflection
- Attention reduction (absolute)
- Attention reduction (peer-overshadowed)
- Attention timing
Classic application
- Misleading claims made by firms themselves
- Greenshifting of blame on to demanding consumers
- Limited disclosure of worthy ambitions
- Decent disclosure but substandard vis à vis peers
- Delayed disclosure
Sophisticated application
- Greenlabelling by third parties, which certify firms’ performance
- Greenlighting of good-news case studies
- Fuller disclosure, but with greenhushing of details
- Greencrowding: substandard disclosure en masse
- Greenrinsing: headline-grabbing targets get gradually diluted
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