Greenwashing, as most people know by now, is when organisations make unsubstantiated claims that a product is environmentally friendly when it’s in fact not.

Recent years have seen greenwashing clamp downs. The Green Claims Code from the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) aims to protect consumers from organisations engaging in greenwashing. The code authorises the CMA to fine organisations or engage in legal proceedings which creates significant reputational damage for the business.

As a result, greenhushing has become an emerging and growing trend. Effectively, greenhushing is when companies deliberately do not disclose information on sustainability initiatives or activity to avoid greenwashing.

Why is this happening?

Greenhushing has emerged from a space of organisations fearing retribution from an increasingly critical external consumer and stakeholder environment.

Ever heard the saying, “damned if you do, damned if you don’t”, well simply, a lot of businesses are opting for don’t. By that I mean they are opting to not publicise, market or publicly discuss anything about sustainability.

This is all to protect the business from greenwashing accusations from the CMA or consumers, and in turn mitigate the risk of the fines and reputational damage associated with that.

While it’s a good method of risk mitigation for companies, it does not ode well for the sustainability agenda. If companies speak less about sustainability, or even worse, begin to fear it, it could lead to an anti-sustainability agenda arising.

We can already see this emerging with the anti-ESG political agenda that is sweeping across America.

What does this mean for my business?

The risks of greenwashing are something to be aware of. However, choosing greenhushing as a means of risk mitigation is, in my opinion, a narrow-minded approach to business, and limiting your opportunities in the market.

1. For B2C businesses, Generation Z is a growing demographic market who are extremely environmentally conscious, and often riddled with climate anxiety. Most importantly however, this markets disposable income is growing rapidly. To capture the attention of this consumer then, ensuring your product fits the environmentally friendly demands of your customer is crucial.
2. For B2B businesses, public sector bodies are increasingly demanding green credentials in procurement. Green Public Procurement (GPP) in the EU and PPN 06/21 in the UK both place requirements on bodies to ensure a weighting in scoring considers environmental impact.
3. In private sector then, investors are primarily driving the change. ESG is an important element of investment in risk matrices now, with investors wanting prospective investments to declare ESG credentials. As a result, private sector companies backed by investors then demand ESG credentials from their supply chain, and a drop-down waterfall effect is happening in the sector.

Imagine then if your business embraced greenhushing and does not have data or processes in place to fulfil the demands of changing markets. You might find it a bit difficult to do business in years to come.

How do I avoid reputational risk?

The answer is practically always the same – data, data, data. Greenwashing only exists if your green claims are unsubstantiated. So substantiate them!

If your business is acting in an environmentally responsible manner, working to build data about that and use that data as an asset shouldn’t be something you fear. In fact, very much the opposite, it should be embraced by the company and top-level management as a massive opportunity.

Green-marketing is a very relevant and commercial marketing tactic in the age of responsible consumerism. As consumers demand more green goods, public sector grow green procurement and investors demand ESG credentials, having data to market in a green way, and speak loudly about it, is a brilliant way to differentiate your business and step ahead of the competition. This will help you not only avoid reputational risk, but thrive and ride the trend of green consumerism toward business growth.

Whilst greenhushing is a trend, it’s not one you’ll want to follow. Don’t be a sheep!