How To Avoid Greenwashing: Elements of a Successful Sustainability Communications Plan

As businesses, industries, and the world race to become more sustainable and reach net-zero carbon emissions, how they communicate their efforts can be a competitive advantage or potentially harm a brand’s reputation. It’s more critical than ever that brands avoid accusations of greenwashing and effectively communicate their sustainability initiatives with consumers, stakeholders and shareholders. In this post, we cover the elements of a communications plan for companies to avoid accusations of greenwashing, such as honesty, active efforts of emission reductions, setting measurable targets and timeframe, and transparency about their actions.

What is greenwashing?

Greenwashing is misleading claims about the extent of sustainability efforts, environmentally friendly products and green services, whether intentional or not. Some fast fashion brands were accused of greenwashing after failing to truthfully communicate the extent of the carbon impact of some of their products. In our recent sustainability study, we found that 80% of consumers prefer brands that are taking steps to reduce their carbon emissions. At a time when consumers have more choices than ever, brand loyalty starts to matter more and more.

4 elements of a sustainability communications plan to avoid greenwashing

While sustainability plans may differ between companies, how they communicate those plans, efforts and results can have a significant impact on their image, reputation and potentially their bottom line. So what makes up an effective communications plan for brands and other organizations to avoid accusations of greenwashing?

1. Be Honest

Honesty truly is the best policy. Other efforts won’t matter as much if brands are caught lying or exaggerating about their actions. In fact, according to a study by Adobe, nearly half of consumers consider a company’s values important and 94% of those consumers also find honesty important. Furthermore, just over half of UK consumers said they would stop buying from companies misleading about their sustainability claims, according to KPMG. 

However, there is a financial incentive for companies to speak truthfully about their environmental and sustainability initiatives, but more on that later. No company is going to be perfect in their sustainability efforts, but being honest about both the actions a brand is taking to improve their sustainability and the areas it still needs to improve can go a long way toward building trust and avoiding being called out for greenwashing. 

2. Be Transparent

Organizations should be as transparent as possible about their sustainability efforts. As mentioned earlier, consumers value honesty from brands and they also value transparency. According to 3M, 75% of consumers demand transparency from companies claiming to be sustainable. A study by Label Insights, an organization that analyzes food labels, found that 73% of consumers would pay more for a product that offers total transparency. Not only that, 94% of consumers would be more loyal to transparent brands.

So how can organizations be transparent about their sustainability efforts? Showcasing what steps they’re taking to reduce their emissions is a great way to build trust between consumers and brands. Companies can periodically share their progress with their customers and partners, to see if they’re on track. Even if an organization can’t hit its targets, consumers are more forgiving if they truthfully share why not. Maybe unexpected roadblocks prevent a company from reducing faster or more. As long as companies are honest about it, they can avoid accusations of greenwashing. 

3. Have Measurable Goals

Setting measurable goals for an organization’s carbon reductions that are communicated to consumers is a great way to avoid accusations of greenwashing. Measurable goals help keep companies accountable for their actions, especially if they’re set with a third party such as Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). This allows consumers to see what an organization has planned and what their goals are. 

So how can organizations communicate their goals in a way that consumers understand? One way to do this is to be specific. Companies should avoid being vague with their goals and saying “We are reducing our supply chain emissions!” and instead say something like “We are reducing our supply chain emissions by 30% YoY!” Which brings us to our next point.

4. Set a Time Frame for Completion

Companies should set a realistic time frame for completing their green initiatives. Setting a time frame shows consumers that organizations have a plan in place to reduce their carbon emissions and adds further accountability to do so. Many organizations are targeting 2030 as the year to reach net zero emissions, which is he same year the IPCC says the world needs to cut its carbon emissions to keep global temperatures from rising past 1.5 degrees C and potentially avoid drastic environmental and ecological damages. 

However, not all organizations or industries will be able to reach net zero emissions by 2030. Companies should evaluate internally and work with their partners to understand when is a realistic time to reach net zero emissions. It also helps to have intermediate time frames for certain reductions. 

For example, if a company aims to be net zero by 2030, there could be 50% reductions by 2025 and 75% reductions by 2028. Some organizations also set separate goals for achieving net zero for the easier-to-control scope 1 and 2 emissions and later goals for the harder-to-control scope 3 emissions. 

Greenwashing will receive more scrutiny than ever

Greenwashing can have devastating effects on a company’s reputation, a brand’s value or an organization’s bottom line. The good news is, that through honesty and transparency with those goals and time frames, brands can easily avoid being called out for greenwashing. Check out some of the progress made by digital advertisers who collectively compensated for over 1B impressions from their unavoidable carbon emissions using Sharethrough’s GreenPMPs™.