Anti-Greenwashing Checklist
All the sustainability regulations and laws are tough to navigate and many teams struggle with the paralysis between greenwashing and greenhushing. They’re so (rightly) fearful of greenwashing they’re afraid to say anything so stay quiet and don’t communicate their progress towards a sustainable future.
Teams across marketing, sustainability, and legal need the capability and support to navigate the regulations confidently and safely, which is one of the ways Flourish help. For now, here are some top tips to begin your journey before you add the legal layer on top.
Measure your progress – The lack of legally-binding rules around ethical communications makes it easy for brands to mislead consumers by describing sustainable standards in their own way. Stand out and hold your brand to account by choosing clear and consistent metrics with which to measure and present your sustainable results.
Share your progress – The most authentically ethical brands make information about their sustainable agenda as clear and as accessible as possible. Information about your sustainable goals and progress should be easy to find, reference, and understand for every consumer.
Don’t try to hide your skeletons – Be honest about your past mistakes and the current challenges to overcome them. Sustainability isn’t a black-and-white issue. Brands aren’t either sustainable or not; either good or bad. They either do sustainable things, or they don’t bother. Your audience values humility and authenticity, so own your mistakes – don’t bury them. And show the data behind why you're better now.
Integrate sustainability across brand strategy – Brands can’t claim to be entirely sustainable with bolt-on sustainable products or projects while still profiting off largely unsustainable practices. Implement company initiatives that bring sustainability into the day-to-day mindset of your people, and show your consumers how this is having a positive impact inside and out of your organisation.
Collect credentials – Every claim you make needs to be backed and certified. Ensure consistent credibility with qualifications (like B Corp) that externally evaluate your brand’s sustainable practices and ensure you put in the work. Use international standards by trusted organisations (e.g. ISO) and check regularly that your evidence and statements are up-to-date and still relevant. Organisations like the Carbon Disclosure Project also provide disclosure frameworks that brands can follow for their communications.
Avoid cliche imagery and jargon – Telling your sustainability story doesn’t mean reinventing your brand. Besides, consumers are becoming desensitised to green cliche aesthetics and exaggerated buzzword statements. Don’t forfeit what your audience knows and loves about you. Stay authentic and true to your brand identity and tone when telling your sustainability story.
Do good to feel good – Truly sustainable marketing goes beyond making consumers feel good about their consumption. It’s about actually doing good together. Overconsumption got us into this mess, so it’s up to marketers to find ways to encourage audiences to consume less, but better.
Tell your story sustainably – Creativity costs a lot of carbon. Stories are only really sustainable if they’re communicated in sustainable ways. Let’s ditch our addiction to all things new and decarbonise marketing production by recycling and remixing existing assets for re-use in new campaigns.
Engage with the wider world of sustainability – Increase authority by situating your sustainable story within global and local conversations and events. And don’t just boast by comparing your efforts with other brands’ – use your platform to raise awareness and equip consumers against the wider issue of misinformation in your sector.
Be honest with your offsets – Be real about your actual decarbonisation and what you’re offsetting. Just offsetting is a PR stunt and is pure greenwashing – removal of carbon is key, offsetting is compensation on your essential path to net zero.
