Claim does not
reflect consistent
organizational
practice
- Examples
- A well-known case that illustrates the importance of this indicator
is IKEA and the sale of what it claimed to be FSC-certified timber
products, which were actually harvested illegally from Ukraine’s
old growth forests (see Earthsight’s 2020 investigations).
Claim has
certifications that
are prone to
greenwash
- Examples
- One example is the issue of certifying what could be considered
“business as usual.” There has been evidence from NGOs (e.g.,
SeaChoice et. al., 2018) that shows that the Aquaculture
Stewardship Council (ASC) has weakened its standards enough
to be considered largely certifying 'business as usual'.
Furthermore, farms without indigenous consent have been
certified along with farms that had high sea lice levels dangerous
to wild salmon (thus failing several ASC standards’ key
requirements). Organizations, like the Changing Markets
Foundation (2022) and Greenpeace (2021), have been critically
assessing certification schemes that were not achieving the
claims that consumers were seemingly led to believe.
Claim boasts of green commitments, while the same organization lobbies against environmental laws
- Examples
- One specific example is shown in the brought to light by Unearthed (2021)
investigations, which released information about how ExxonMobil
continued to fight efforts to tackle climate change in the United States,
despite publicly claiming to support the Paris climate agreement.
The aviation sector is one of the strongest opponents of climate policy in
Europe. The International Airline Group and the four European airlines with
the largest disclosed CO2 emissions in 2019–Air France, KLM,
Lufthansa,and Ryanair–regularly obstruct lobbying efforts on behalf of the
climate. Despite publicly claiming to support reaching net zero carbon,
they have actively opposed key domestic and EU aviation policies on
climate, including the full inclusion of aviation in the EU Emissions Trading
System, kerosene fuel taxes, and ticket taxes on flights (InfluenceMap,
2021).
A more recent example is a complaint from Greenpeace Canada against
the Pathways Alliance, which is a coalition of six of Canada’s largest oil
sands producers. Greenpeace alleges that Pathways’ claim that they are
actively reducing emissions and helping Canada achieve its climate
targets are false and misleading. The Alliance tries to create the
impression that it is a climate leader, despite its member activities such as
advertising and/or openly speaking out against climate action and
regulations in Canada.
Claims that
greenwash
organization's
activities are
endorsed by
other
organizations
- Examples
- Examples include British Cycling’s endorsement of Shell’s Net-Zero claims
(Dubbins, 2022); Aarhus University, which was paid by a Danish meat
producer to create evidence that supports claims of reduced emissions in
pork production (The Copenhagen Post, 2021); and partnerships between
the World Wildlife Fund and organizations such as Shell, Monsanto, and
HSBC that benefited from the group's green image while continuing to
carry out harmful environmental practices as usual (The Guardian, 2014).