After a tumultuous two weeks COP26 finally drew to a close last weekend. https://ukcop26.org/

Since 31st October, when Presidents and Prime Minsters joined the many delegates from 196 Parties to discuss matters of Global Importance, the worlds eyes have been fixed on the SEC Centre in Glasgow, https://ukcop26.org/the-conference/venue/

It’s an event that has attracted record numbers this time around with an estimated 39,509 attendees from all over the globe, including many of the World Leaders.

These numbers are a massive increase on the very first event (COP1), hosted in Berlin in 1995 with just under 4,000 visitors.

And the last time there were crowds anywhere near this was at Paris in 2015 (COP21), where slightly over 30,000* participants oversaw the adoption of the landmark Paris Agreement

*Figures: Carbon Brief

So, all in all, it’s a pretty big deal, with Hundreds of Billions of Pounds being pledged to help react to, and to minimize, the effects of global warming.

Now, here at STS we keep a close "weather eye" on all things "climate change" and it's been a very interesting study to watch events unfold.

Of course, only time will tell if the agreements made and the goals reached will quantify the Glasgow based event as an unqualified success in achieving it's stated aim of:

UNITING THE WORLD TO TACKLE CLIMATE CHANGE.

In the meantime, we’ve been looking in detail at one of the buzz words doubtless heard repeatedly around the venue:

Greenwashing

So, what does it mean and how do we recognise it when it happens?

Put simply, it is the action of a company or organisation spending more time and money on Marketing themselves as environmental champions than they spend on actually minimizing their environmental impact.

Coined by American Environmentalist Jay Westerveld in 1986, another blunter definition of the term might be “a deliberate attempt to mislead the environmentally conscious consumer through deceitful or gimmicky advertising”.

Many companies, understandably, like to market their goods in such as way as to make them more attractive to the discerning and ethically minded customer.

Not all of them however are able to back up their claims with solid fact!

In recent years there has been a rise in the use of generic “green” phrases such as eco, bio, natural, sustainable etc. and they look good on Marketing Blurb and Packaging.

However, these words, if they have no relevance to accepted standards are just that….words!

They look reassuring to the consumer but mean absolutely nothing in tangible environmental terms.

Likewise, packing products in Green material or printing pretty flowers on the packaging looks nice but means zip!

Another classic example can be found in the water industry. There is a tendency to rather overegg the green credentials there with plastic bottles labelled with images of beautiful lakes and thriving wildlife against lush backgrounds.

There have been some interesting precedents set by some very well know Corporations that illustrate Greenwashing perfectly!

When McDonalds announced in 2018 they were getting rid of single use plastic straws and introducing paper straws instead, they faced a backlash and accusations of Greenwashing when it was discovered the paper straws were not in fact recyclable!

Ryanair’s claims to be Europe’s lowest emissions airline resulted in the Adverting Standards Agency pulling their ad. There was simply insufficient evidence to legitimise their claim.

Similarly, Hyundai fell foul of the ASA when they advertised a car that they claimed “cleaned the air”

Gousto, the British meal kit retailer was recently found to have falsely claimed that its packaging was 100% plastic-free and recyclable.

Quorn also had an advertisement banned by the ASA. A claim involving the way Carbon was certified for one of their products, resulting in a reduced carbon footprint, had no clarification about what it was being measured against.

It can be concluded from the above that Greenwashing is actually quite an easy thing to fall into the trap of doing, and in some cases its totally inadvertent!

Companies, in attempting to appear Environmentally Proactive may be guilty of overenthusiasm, and not thinking their branding through properly and they end up claiming things that are simply not true!

“The International Consumer Protection Enforcement Network recently analysed 500 websites and found that up to 40% of environmentally friendly claims might be misleading customers.”

Source: BBC November 2021

It’s not all bad!

The Government has taken action to meet this practice through the Competition and Markets Authority.

This body published the Green Claims Code in September 2021, which stipulates that organisations check their claims against a set of official criteria.

From next year, companies that fail to adhere to this code will be guilty of contravening Consumer Law and could end up in court!

So, how does STS stack up when this most pertinent of questions is raised?

"What are we doing in the war on Climate Change?”

Well, at STS we believe in transparency.

We admit it.

We’re not perfect …..yet.

We’re not Net Zero Carbon… yet. (And that’s a claim made by quite a number of entities, but they are “pulling the wool” I’m afraid. If someone IS making that claim have a good long look at the facts before blindly believing them!)

David Barmes, senior economist at the campaign group Positive Money, says (Carbon) offsetting is the most popular form of greenwashing.

"It's riddled with fraud and allows firms to claim they're meeting emissions targets while they continuously pump emissions into the air." He adds: "The whole point of offsets is to allow these corporations to keep emitting with impunity and allow governments to claim they are meeting targets."

Succinctly put!!!!

But at STS we truly care.

We are committed to playing our part, to the best of our ability.

And we ARE getting there!

And we believe that working with you, our discerning and ethically minded partners, we are making a positive impact.

One day at a time!

WHAT IS GREENWASHING?