Most greenwashing is done by good teams without the precision around how they tell their story.
Here’s an example: Your team has done real work. Then, someone else takes the story and, with the best intentions, smooths the edges. A "reduction in energy consumption at three specific facilities" becomes "we're reducing our energy footprint." Nothing said is untrue, but that shift is exactly where greenwashing risk lives.
Read more: Why your team won't talk about sustainability (and what to do about it)
Why the stakes have changed
Over the past few years, brands across industries (including Keurig, Apple, Nike, Superdry, and Lacoste to name a few) have been slapped with fines and faced public scrutiny for misrepresentative sustainability claims.
Consumers are increasingly privy to the dark side of sustainability claims and are more willing to do their research. A vast majority (83%) of Gen Z and Millennials consider environmental reasons when choosing products, demonstrating that sustainability is a core factor in their purchase decisions.
Read more: How younger generations are shaping sustainable business
Beyond that, the EU's Green Claims Directive, the FTC's Green Guides, the UK CMA's guidance, and equivalent frameworks in Australia and Canada have collectively narrowed the space for vague environmental language. Regulators, activists, and litigation attorneys are using these frameworks proactively and some authorities have deployed automated tools to scan for potential violations. The good news is that these frameworks share a common logic. Understand it, and you have a principled basis for reviewing any claim.
The four principles that govern green claims
- Truth and accuracy. Every quantitative claim must be supported with verifiable evidence. If a number can't be sourced, it shouldn't be published.
- Clarity and transparency. It's not enough for a claim to be technically true — it has to be understandable. Be explicit about scope (product, component, facility, or whole company?), methodology, and what isn't included. Showing your work is increasingly a legal requirement.
- Specificity and relevance. Terms like "green," "eco-friendly," and "sustainable" are legally risky and commercially weak. Replace vague with specific: not "lower carbon footprint" but "X% reduction in Scope 1 emissions against a 2020 baseline, verified by [methodology]."
- Inference and implication. Greenwashing goes beyond your copy and considers the whole story, like leaf iconography that resembles a certification seal, nature imagery, a single sustainable attribute in an outsized font — these can all can imply a sustainability story that the overall product doesn't support.
The most common traps
- Overstating the part. A product with one recycled component described as "made with recycled materials." An energy-efficient upgrade described as "a 20% more efficient system." The feature is real but the implication isn't.
Fix: scope claims precisely and match them to what the evidence actually covers. - Certification scope creep. A company-level certification applied as though it covers every product. Third-party logos used in contexts that imply broader endorsement than was given.
Fix: always specify what is certified, by whom, and at what scope. - Journey language without a roadmap. "We're committed to net zero." "Sustainability is at the heart of everything we do." In a growing number of jurisdictions, future-focused claims require time-bound commitments and disclosed plans.
Fix: anchor aspirational language to verifiable progress. "We're committed to sustainability" is not a claim. - The telephone problem. The sustainability leader knows the nuance. By the time it reaches the asset, the precision that made it defensible has been edited out.
Fix: shared language, shared guardrails, and a shared review process are all key to mitigating greenwashing risks.
Start with what you can prove
tPX works with our clients to build strategies from the ground up that are based on substantiated claims. For example, our work with a leading healthcare company resulted in what they described as one of their most successful product launches ever while establishing credibility in healthcare sustainability leadership.
Read more: How we launched a sustainability-focused medical device with clarity and credibility
Before building the narrative, we ask two questions:
- What do we want to be able to say about our sustainability work?
- What would we need to prove — and do — to say it credibly?
Start from aspiration and work backwards to evidence. The companies that communicate sustainability most effectively know exactly what they can prove, say it with precision, and resist the pressure to round up. As scrutiny increases, that discipline is both the ethical choice and the competitive one.
We help companies comply with sustainability regulations, refine their strategy and communications to drive more impact, and leverage sustainability to generate revenue.
