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Greenwashing and the Green Realities –

• We hear more and more talk about the ‘importance of being green’….but what does this mean for us as individuals, businesses and countries.

• Given the realities of finite resources and environmental damage, we must look at the correct use of sustainable practices (personally, commercially and politically), to create opportunity and better the world we inhabit.

• And we must learn to differentiate ‘greenwashing’ from true sustainable practice.

Barry Walsh of Greenbeans.ie

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Why is Sustainability important? - there are 6 billion of us

- resources are finite and damage is being done

- there are huge opportunities in a huge market, which is especially important now.

- there isn’t a choice anymore!

First I will briefly deal with the situation at hand, then we shall go to ‘greenwashing’ and its ills.

Finally, to see the forest from the trees, (no pun intended) I shall return to the greenwashing of sustainable energy in Ireland/UK, and whats really needed.

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There is additional another issue….

• Fossil fuel energy is running out and there is no magic bullet!

• Fossil fuels will get increasingly more expensive, as developing countries increase demand, and fossil fuels are needed to manufacture goods as well as for energy.

• We need to be independent of energy imports, (we are currently one of the most dependent countries in the world on imported energy)! In 2007, 96% of all energy used in Ireland was imported.

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What is wrong with this?

• 2% renewables and measures like wind powered bike lights are insignificant.

• If we all just do a bit, then we only achieve a bit!

• Its like using a teaspoon to try to bail out the Titanic, which brings us to something which many companies, (and governments) of today are guilty of……

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GreenwashingWhat? Why? Why not? And how to avoid it

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What is Greenwashing?

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Green·wash (grēn'wŏsh', -wôsh')

“verb: the act of misleading consumers regarding practices of a company or the environmental

benefits of a product or service.”

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1Greenwash is misleading the public by stressing

environmental credentials of a person, a product or an organization when these are unfounded or

irrelevant

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2Greenwash is an environmental claim

which is unsubstantiated (a fib) or irrelevant (a distraction)

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3 It’s greenwashing when a company or organization spends

more time and money claiming to be “green” through advertising and marketing than actually implementing

business practices that minimize environmental impact.

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Why does greenwashing happen?

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It depends on how you look at it,But reasons are positive

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1changing buying patterns in consumer

markets

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CFC FREE | ORGANIC | FREE RANGE | CRUELTY FREE | BIO | DOPLPHIN FRIENDLY | NON TOXIC

| BIODEGRADABLE | RECYCLABLE | ECO | CARBON NEUTRAL | FSC | AGAINST ANIMAL

TESTING | VEGAN | FAIRTRADE | LOCAL | OZONE FRIENDLY | CARBON OFFSET

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CULTURAL CREATIVES | LOHAS | NEW WORLD’S | BLUE GREEN’S ...

They are all high-educated, involved, active, merely urban, double income, early-adapting, ... And

marketers are starving to get them

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“Green is a new sort of ‘good manners’”

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“Green is fashionable,delivers cool andsocial status”

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There is greenwashing, because

we’ve passed a tipping point.

Which is good

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2Our education:

we’re motivated to tell the story in the most beautiful way

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Isn’t this how you would thinkof advertising milk?

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The risk is that same can happen with greenvertising. Sometimes wecannot blame ourselves

Making things look nice is our nature

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Why all the fuss?Why is that so bad?

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• More complaints against advertising

• Undermining confidence in advertising

• Sabotage of environmental movement in business

• Honestly…It is simply annoying

• Bad press attention

• And last but not least…

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You don’t want this kind of circus

on your doorstep

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2 ways you can avoid greenwashing

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1Stick to the MAIN PRINCIPLE of Greenvertising:

“Green Marketing is not about making

normal things seem green (greenwashing),

it is about making green stuff normal”

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Organic and ethical was

almost exclusively a value add

proposition in the boom

years. But this luxury

positioning is very much at

odds with the new mood of

austerity and the pragmatic

need for frugality….

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What’s important to todays Consumers? (and the emerging idea of Non-sumers)

- Proactively buying less

- Living small, compact and without wastefulness

- Thinking ethical, all the way through the chain

- Rejecting unnecessary products, embracing experiences

- Expressing self through what they do, not what they have

- Being part of global communities of like-minded people

- Crusading for change through how they behave and what

they buy

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2Be aware of the

“seven sins of Greenwashing”:

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Cut out and keep

1.The sin of suggestive pictures

2.The sin of the hidden trade off

3.The sin of no proof

4.The sin of vagueness

5.The sin of irrelevance

6.The sin of lesser of two evils

7.The sin of fibbing

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1The sin of suggestive pictures:

Green images that indicate a (un-justified) green impact,

like flowers blooming from exhaust pipes

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2 The sin of the hidden trade off:

Suggestion of being Green, based on a single environmental attribute, while

blurring all other parameters which are maybe more important,

like a Hummer that is claiming that it is a Hybrid

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3The sin of no proof

Claims that could be right, but are not supported by any evidence, or by any reliable third-

party certification,

like Household lamps that promote their energy efficiency without any supporting figures or certification.

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4 The sin of vagueness

Claims that are expressed with fluffy language with no clear meaning ,

like ‘planet-friendly’ packaging

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5 The sin of irrelevance

environmental claims that are redundantand unimportant for customers

seeking environmentally preferable products. It

is irrelevant and therefore distracts the

consumer from finding a truly greener option.

Like ‘unleaded fuel (all fuel in Europe is unleaded

…

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6The sin of lesser of two evils

These are “green” claims that may be true within

the product category, but that risk

distracting the consumer from the greater

Health- or other negative

impacts of the category as a whole

Like organic cigarettes

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7The sin of fibbing

out-right lying, and produce

totally fabricated claims or data

Like driving climate neutral

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A little bit of recent government Greenwashing…

- Headline ‘Wind farms break 1,000MW barrier supplying 33% of Irelands power!’

-This was a short term high wind, low demand situation during a single day!!

- In reality, the amount of power capacity to generate from wind in Ireland is about 9%, (and totals 11% if you include hydro and biomass), and is generally lower than this on a day-to-day basis.

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Hence, there are huge opportunities in both

: the creation of products that tie in with new more ethical, (and frugal) lifestyles,

: and the vast unfixed problem of energy generation!

Sources/ Interesting reads:

stefaan.vandist@duvalguillaume.comhttp:// cause-encounters.blogspot.com

JOHN GRANT; “The Green Marketing Manifesto”- BOB WILLARD; The Next Sustainability Wave- Trendwatching: Nonsumers, Transumers and Minipreneurs- Also David Mackay’s Sustainability without the Hot Air- The Greenwash Guide: terrachoice.com

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Thanks for listening!!!

• Any questions…..

• Barry Walsh• www.zenthings.com (Massage tables & Yoga mats)• www.greenbeans.ie (We buy used consumer electronics

for cash, which we resell or recycle)

• Contactable at 086-171-36-763• And info@zenthings.com