Don’t get accused of greenwashing: why brands must back up their claims

I t’s for good reason that brands want to be perceived as green. There’s plenty of evidence to suggest it helps to attract customers, younger recruits and investment. So, it’s completely understandable that companies may be tempted to embellish their environmental credentials. 

If they do this though, they do need to be careful. In recent years, the condemnation of any company making vague, false or misleading sustainability claims has grown loud. Watchdogs, environmental groups and regulatory bodies have all been quick to attack brands issuing unsubstantiated statements – especially when they involve historic polluters, such as fossil fuel companies. These cries of “greenwashing” are not limited to dirty industries however, they have covered all manner of sectors – from fashion to finance. 

Even when a company appears to be doing a good thing, it is risky to publicly exaggerate the impact of their actions. This was certainly the case when BrewDog attempted to reforest parts of Scotland by planting 500,000 trees – only for half of them to die. 

The failure of the £20m “Lost Forest” project might not have looked so bad if the company hadn’t splashed a bold pledge to be “carbon-negative” across its beer cans and 100+ bars. Following this debacle, BrewDog was forced to abandon its pledge – and such was the PR blowback, it led former CEO James Watt to say: “If you’re looking purely through a reputational lens, we’d have been better if we’d taken that £20 million and spent it on hookers and coke in Vegas.”

It may be that BrewDog’s dendrophilia-inspired actions were pure, but it was clearly overreaching with its marketing claims. And this is something to note, especially as UK regulators look to introduce Sustainability Reporting Standards (UK SRS) this year.

Although not yet finalised, one of the major aims of UK SRS is to prevent greenwashing. These regulations will be applied to public listed and large private companies, but as they will also cover their Scope 3 (supply chain) emissions it’s likely to have wide reaching implications for smaller businesses. For example, the NHS procurement protocols now require suppliers to present Carbon Reduction Plans. 

As larger organisations ask their supply chain partners to share their environmental credentials, SMEs will need to consider how they are publicly communicating their greenness. When they do so, they would be wise to learn the lesson provided by former top dog brewer James Watt, and only to make claims that can be backed up.