Avoid Greenwashing - Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting With Substance

Posted on 06. Mar, 2009 by Ross in Corporate Policy

Recent years have seen an explosion in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reporting, as companies have become aware of the public’s craving for business to act more responsibly. 79% of the world’s largest companies make their CSR reports publicly available - that’s a 30% jump from 2005. Despite the economic downturn consumers are still showing a preference for ’sustainable’ and ‘green’ brands, which as a result are out-performing their less environmentally-conscious peers during the recession. CSR is a key weapon in the corporate arsenal for helping customers buy into a brand, and to promote awareness of environmental initiatives, but a new pitfall- ‘greenwashing’ - is beginning to seep into the public awareness and causing consumers to be more questioning of corporate claims.

Greenwashing is when companies attempt to put a green spin on press releases when the actual environmental impact of their actions is at best dubious. Marketing a car as ‘green’ just because it does 30mpg instead of 25mpg is an obvious greenwash, since there are plenty of traditional-engined cars that can managed better than twice that efficiency. Another high-profile accusation of greenwash is the marketing of clean coal: something that even the Coen brothers have seized upon as an obvious contradiction.

Other criticisms have been levelled at the use of carbon intensity as an indicator of combating climate change. For example, UK retail giant Tesco proclaims that the carbon intensity of its operations per square foot of net sales area had been reduced by 4.7%. Meanwhile, because of company growth Tesco’s CO₂ emissions over the same annual period actually rose by 8.6%. Not that it should detract from the efforts that Tesco obviously made in reducing emssions, but the disparity between the two figures ends up smacking of dishonesty to the perceptive public.

The answer: be honest about the impact of environmental initiatives, and pick projects which produce indisputable and substantial results. Be able to publicise smaller projects within the context of the larger picture, and trumpet larger gains with clear, absolute figures. Equating savings to tangible quantities - even if on a mind-blowing scale - can breed great results, as Rittal found out when installing Somar Eluma energy-saving lighting in a BBC news report. The public is naturally sceptical: don’t give them reasons to doubt your company’s social responsibility efforts even more.