Greenwashing is the practice of an organization or company spending more time, money, and energy on creating a false impression of being environmentally friendly or sustainable rather than actually reducing their environmental impact.

This deceptive advertising scheme has grown in popularity in recent years and aims to mislead well-intentioned consumers who prefer to purchase goods and services from environmentally conscious brands. Many companies use the technique of Greenwashing to enhance and attract public perception of their brand.

There is also increasing pressure from the public and government to have large companies and corporations reduce their impact on the environment, especially regarding the contribution of greenhouse gas emissions. (Ethical Consumer, 2020)

According to Nielsen's Global Corporate Sustainability Report, 66% of consumers would be willing to spend more on a product if it comes from a sustainable brand, and among millennials, that figure rose to 73%. This type of unethical marketing practice can give a company a competitive advantage over its rivals. (Corcione, 2020)

Now, I will discuss in detail three different examples of Greenwashing.

1. Fast fashion brands

The first example is fast fashion brands such as H&M and Zara, which are among the companies that have been caught Greenwashing over the years. They have contributed to the large amounts of textile waste caused by the fashion industry.

According to the non-profit fashion organization ReMake, 80% of discarded textiles worldwide are incinerated or landfilled, and only 20% are reused or recycled. Brands also tend to heavily advertise their eco-friendly initiatives, even though it is a small part of their operations. For example, H&M launched its own "green" clothing line in 2019 called "Conscious," where the company claims to use "organic" cotton and recycled polyester. However, the line is only used as a marketing tactic to appear more environmentally friendly.

Their mission statement says, "Shop our selection of sustainable fashion pieces that make you look and feel good."

Then, H&M was criticized by the Norwegian Consumer Authority for the "misleading" marketing of its Conscious Collection as it advertised as a collection with environmental benefits, and the sustainability information provided was not sufficient. (Robinson, 2021)

According to designers and environmentalists, Coca-Cola is guilty of greenwashing and taking a step back in terms of sustainability. The company has committed to introducing recycled plastic bottles for some of its products, which would reduce its annual greenhouse gas emissions by 20,000 metric tons - the equivalent of removing 2,120 cars from the road for a year.

Coca-Cola maintains that it is addressing packaging waste and claims that it will reduce its use of new plastic by over 20%. Its 100% recycled plastic bottles are now available in 18 markets worldwide with continued growth.

On its website and advertising campaigns, the company claims that "our planet matters" and another stating "scaling sustainable solutions...and investing in sustainable packaging platforms to reduce our carbon footprint," with another marketing campaign titled "a world without waste".

However, despite its proactive measures with plastic, Coca-Cola still produces 3,400 plastic bottles per second, so these measures are simply not enough. In June 2021, the environmental organization Earth Island Institute sued Coca-Cola for false advertising regarding sustainability and eco-friendliness, causing irreversible damage to the environment, including marine life, oceans, and coastal communities. Its contribution to plastic pollution will not be reduced at all and will remain one of the world's biggest plastic polluters.

Not only can companies be accused of greenwashing, but governments can also be held accountable. In Ireland, the government recently closed natural gas power plants, claiming that wind and solar renewables will provide 70% of the country's energy needs by 2030. However, in recent months, they had to turn on the same gas power plant because there was no electricity due to lack of wind.

It doesn't help that governments generally grant significant subsidies to fossil fuel companies, reducing prices while encouraging further production and have been weak in carbon production sanctions. The government's policy in Ireland has allowed too many data centers to be built and they are still growing to the point that they will use as much energy as the entire city of Dublin by 2027.

In conclusion, a number of sources have highlighted the issue of greenwashing in the business world. Greenwashing refers to companies engaging in deceptive marketing practices that portray their products or services as more environmentally-friendly than they actually are. It has become increasingly prevalent as consumers seek out greener options and companies compete to meet this demand.

References cited include Corcione's (2020) article on greenwashing in Business News Daily, Ethical Consumer's (2020) overview of the topic, Hahn's (2021) critique of Coca-Cola's plastic waste reduction efforts in Dezeen, Kennedy's (2019) article in The Irish Times on global corporations outpacing governments in environmental efforts, Robinson's (2021) list of ten companies called out for greenwashing on Earth.Org, and Joe's (2021) report in Green Queen on Earth Island's lawsuit against Coca-Cola for false advertising and greenwashing claims.

It is important for companies to take genuine steps towards sustainability and transparency in their operations and messaging, rather than relying on misleading greenwashing tactics. As awareness of environmental issues continues to grow, consumers are increasingly able to recognize and call out greenwashing practices.