Greenwashing

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Ensure your company isn't damaging customers' trust by greenwashing – making false claims that your company or products are environmentally friendly.

Greenwashing is when a company purports to be environmentally conscious for marketing purposes but actually isn't making any notable sustainability efforts.
Companies can greenwash even when they have good intentions.
As a result of greenwashing, most American consumers do not believe company claims about their sustainability practices.

You've probably heard of whitewashing at least once in the corporate world. Whitewashing is when an organization covers up or glosses over scandalous information by presenting a biased representation of the facts. But greenwashing isn't nearly as well known. Greenwashing is when an organization spends more time and money on marketing itself as environmentally friendly than on actually minimizing its environmental impact. It's a deceitful marketing gimmick intended to mislead consumers who prefer to buy goods and services from environmentally conscious brands.

What is greenwashing?

CREDIT: Global Witness

CURRENT NEWS

Sep 10 2026

Los Angeles Times

Leaked emails reveal industry plan to kill California’s plastic and recycling laws

By Susanne Rust 09/10/26

When California’s groundbreaking law on single-use plastic passed in 2022 to address the growing scourge of plastic pollution, it had broad political support. There was the state Chamber of Commerce, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, a…

Sep 09 2026

Heated

We asked Big Tech about AI’s fossil fuel problem. The responses were atrocious.

By Emily Atkin 09/09/26

A few weeks ago, HEATED reported on a bombshell new peer-reviewed study showing that data centers are nowhere near the biggest climate problem with artificial intelligence.

Sep 03 2026

Los Angeles Times

Who’s behind the secretive multimillion-dollar campaign to crush California’s landmark plastics law?

By Susanne Rust 09/03/26

California’s embattled single-use plastics law is still alive — despite multiple lawsuits, political pressure and widespread ad campaigns to destroy it.

Aug 12 2026

Bloomberg

AI Giants Are Quiet on Climate in Sign of Post-ESG Wall Street

By Olivia Raimonde and Summer Maxwell 08/12/26

In a few short years, US artificial intelligence startups have grown into some of the most powerful and influential businesses in the world, reaching near-trillion-dollar valuations. As two of them, Anthropic and OpenAI, prepare for…

Aug 12 2026

Bloomberg

World’s AI Giants Are Preparing to Come Clean on Climate Impact

By Olivia Raimonde and Others 08/12/26

AI’s biggest startups, OpenAI and Anthropic, have so far been largely silent about their impact on the climate. Today’s edition details how a new California regulation is likely to force the companies to publicly account…

Jul 28 2026

Bloomberg

MSCI CEO Tells Investors Ignoring Climate Risk, ‘You Only Have Yourself to Blame’

By Alastair Marsh and Ruth David 07/28/26

As temperatures continue their relentless rise, most investors are still ignoring the impact of a hotter planet on asset values, according to Henry Fernandez, the chief executive of MSCI Inc.

Jul 22 2026

Heatmap

A New Guesstimate for Corporate AI Emissions

By Emily Pontecorvo 07/22/26

With companies now rapidly adding artificial intelligence into their products and using it across their workstreams,it stands to reason that all that extra energy use might show up in their climate accounting.

Jul 21 2026

TBLI Weekly

TBLI Radical Truth: “ESG Is Mostly Greenwashing,” Says Harvard & Cambridge Professor Christopher Marquis

By Robert Rubinstein 07/21/26

Harvard- and Cambridge-trained business professor Christopher Marquis has spent 25 years studying corporate sustainability — and concluded most of it is a smokescreen. In this episode of Radical Truth, he and Robert Rubinstein take apart…

Jul 17 2026

Heatmap

Microsoft Sustainability Chief Hounded by Protestors at Seattle Climate Week

By Katie Brigham 07/17/26

Protestors interrupted one of the final sessions of PNW Climate Week — a conference that brings together climate leaders across Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia — objecting to Microsoft’s rising carbon emissions from data centers…

Jul 07 2026

IKEA’s timber trail through Romania

07/07/26

IKEA is one of the world’s largest buyers of timber. Almost 15 million cubic meters of wood go into IKEA's low-cost products each year — with millions of trees felled to feed its mass-production machine.

Jun 24 2026

Heated

The gas industry is sneaking into kids’ science classes

By Marin Scotten 06/24/26

As a science teacher, Helen is trained in practicing skepticism. So perhaps it was only natural that, at this year’s Wisconsin Society of Science Teachers Conference, she detected the distinct odor of B.S.

Jun 15 2026

Heatmap

Are We Too Obsessed With Carbon Accounting?

By Emily Pontecorvo 06/15/26

When Jane Flegal was working in market developement for Frontier Climate,a $1 billion initiative to catalyze advances in carbon removal,she had what she called a "radicalizing experience."

MORE NEWS

Heatmap

5 Key Changes to SBTi’s Net Zero Standard

By Emily Pontecorvo 06/11/26

Companies have a new rulebook for what constitutes credible climate action. The Science Based Targets Initiative, an organization that seeks to align

Illuminem

Tensions mount at Greenhouse Gas Protocol as scientist resigns in protest

06/10/26

Danny Cullenward, a University of Pennsylvania economist and lawyer, resigned from the Independent Standards Board of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHGP), citing loss of confidence in the governance structure and alleged industry influence over forest…

Heated

Can Patagonia™ own Patagonia?

By Emily Atkin 06/03/26

How can Patagonia, the brand, own the name of a geographical region? That’s the most common question I keep seeing asked about Patagonia™’s controversial lawsuit against Pattie Gonia, the environmental activist and drag queen.

DeSmog

TikTok’s Climate Pledges Collide with Sponsorship of Climate Deniers

By Rei Takver 05/22/26

Despite social media giant TikTok’s ambitious campaigns to combat climate denial, go carbon neutral, and support sustainable advertising on its wildly popular video platform, the company sponsored a Canadian right-wing conference featuring a retinue of…

Desmog

Revealed: British Ad Giant’s Billion-Dollar Greenwash of U.S. Oil Industry

By T J Jordan 04/29/26

British advertising conglomerate WPP has helped oil companies ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, and BP spend an estimated $1 billion on ads in the United States since the 2015 Paris Agreement to tackle climate change, a new…

Environment+Energy Leader

Environmental Pledges Are Now a Legal Liability

By Marybeth Collins 04/13/26

There is a particular kind of corporate risk that doesn't announce itself. It accumulates quietly — in press releases, in sustainability reports, in investor presentations — until a regulatory deadline or a court filing turns…

Heated

Fossil fuel propaganda is evolving

By Emily Atkin 03/17/26

A side effect of the war in Iran is that fossil fuels are falling out of favor. People are starting to realize that sunlight can’t get stuck in the Strait of Hormuz; that EVs can’t…

Carbon Herald

The LEGO Group Invests New $2.8M In CDR Projects

By Sasha Ranevska 02/27/26

The LEGO Group is investing a further $2.8 million (DKK 18 million) in carbon dioxide removal (CDR) solutions that will go towards four different projects in collaboration with Climate Impact Partners and ClimeFi.

Desmog

Big Tech Accused of AI ‘Greenwashing’

By Joey Grostern 02/17/26

The big tech industry’s claims about the climate benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) are largely unproven and unsubstantiated, according to a new report from a coalition of climate advocacy and accountability groups.

The Guardian

Claims that AI can help fix climate dismissed as greenwashing

By Ajit Niranjan 02/17/26

Tech companies are conflating traditional artificial intelligence with generative AI when claiming the energy-hungry technology could help avert climate breakdown, according to a report.

Globalwitness.org

Enabled emissions: How AI helps to supercharge oil and gas production

By Lars Sellien and Hannah Sharpe 01/27/26

AI is quietly boosting fossil fuel expansion, helping some of the world’s biggest polluters to drill and extract more oil and gas. It is time to look at the emissions enabled by AI that could…

The Guardian

Bill Gates charity trust’s holdings in fossil fuel firms rise despite divestment claims

By Isaaq Tomkins 01/19/26

The Gates Foundation Trust holds hundreds of millions of dollars in fossil fuel extractors despite Bill Gates’ claims of divestment made in 2019.

ExxonKnews

Exxon’s new greenwashing ploy

By Emily Sanders 12/18/25

ExxonMobil has a new plan to sell more methane gas in a warming world: Frame it as a climate-friendly solution for artificial intelligence.

Heatmap

There’s a New Color for Hydrogen: Orange

By Katie Brigham 12/16/25

Love it or hate it,it's looking like there may be a good reason to add yet another colour to the hydrogen rainbow.

Trellis

Why 2025 was the Year of Greenhushing

By Jim Giles 12/11/25

I spoke this summer with a communications professional at a large U.S. company. The company operates a substantial fleet of electric vehicles and I wanted to profile its work. No chance, the employee said: “Trump…

Los Angeles Times

Scientists who pioneered carbon capture warn it’s being misused to delay emissions cuts

By Olivia Rudgard 11/13/25

Back in 2001, Kenneth Möllersten and Michael Obersteiner came up with a novel idea that transformed the math of carbon emissions — and the world’s path to net zero.

Earth911

How To Spot Greenwashing

By Gemma Alexander 11/10/25

Whether we’re shopping online or browsing store aisles, we’ll feel better in the long run if we don’t give up on shopping based on our values. When you don’t have time to research every single…

Zoom

CCNow Basics: Disinformation & Greenwashing

10/27/25

This session will explore how disinformation, misinformation, and greenwashing shape public understanding of climate change. We will examine real data, common examples in media and politics, and the tactics used to mislead or confuse audiences.…

Sustainability Next

Is Greenbleaching Replacing Greenwashing?

By Dr. Marko Selakovic 10/16/25

In the ever-evolving arena of corporate communications, a new phenomenon is emerging. Greenbleaching – misuse of green communication to paint an organization more favorably during crises that have nothing or little in common with environmental,…

Trellis

Half-truths and hidden lies: How large corporations undermine climate action

By Bill Weihl 10/15/25

Companies, especially big ones, rarely tell the whole story. Instead, they focus on what makes them look good. Their half-truths not only conceal their harmful impact on the climate, but also create the false impression…

Trellis

Renewable energy claims: State AGs scrutinize Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft

By Heather Clancy 10/09/25

The anti-ESG crusade by Republican state attorneys general is spilling over into the tech industry, with Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft in the crosshairs. At issue: the way the four companies make claims about emissions…

Bloomberg

Barclays Exits Net Zero Club Abandoned by Wall Street, HSBC

By Alastair Marsh 08/01/25

Barclays Plc just became the latest major bank to walk out of the world’s biggest climate group for the industry, following its Wall Street peers and HSBC Holdings Plc out of the coalition.

Trellis

Chasing Net Zero: A case-by-case look at corporate progress on 2030 climate goals

By Jim Giles and Heather Clancy 07/18/25

Ten years ago this December, the world made a decision that continues to shape corporate action on climate: The 196 countries that adopted the Paris Agreement decreed that global temperature increases should be limited to…

Heated

The “green” corporations funding anti-climate groups

By Casey Quinlan 07/08/25

We’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: We won’t be able to meaningfully reduce climate pollution in the U.S. until we do something about trade associations.

The New York Times

The U.S. Under Trump: Alone in Its Climate Denial

By David Gelles 05/19/25

When the Trump administration declared two weeks ago that it would largely disregard the economic cost of climate change as it sets policies and regulations, it was just the latest step in a multipronged effort…

Union Of Concerned Scientist

Decades of Deceit

By Delta Merner and Others 05/14/25

This report assesses the wealth of documentary evidence behind these lawsuits, including recently released internal corporate documents. The evidence could hardly be clearer: For decades these companies possessed detailed and accurate knowledge about the dangers…

Medium

Lawsuits Addressing Climate Change Are Seeing Mixed Results

By Hannah Wiseman 05/03/25

The U.S. Supreme Court in March 2025 ended a decade-old lawsuit filed by a group of children who sought to hold the federal government responsible for some of the consequences of climate change. But just…

The New Lede

As regenerative agriculture gains momentum, report warns of “greenwashing”

By Carey Gillam 04/29/25

Billed as a type of food system that works in harmony with nature, “regenerative” agriculture is gaining popularity in US farm country, garnering praise in books and films and as one of the goals of…

Clean Hub

Greenwashing Examples: The Nine Biggest Fines Handed Out So Far

02/08/25

Authorities around the world are introducing legislation and penalties to combat the threat of greenwashing incidents. Most recently, the European Union kicked off 2024 by adopting a new law — the Greenwashing Directive — to…

AKEPA

Greenwashing: 18 recent stand-out examples

01/23/25

You may have noticed the world becoming more eco-friendly in recent years — or at least, so it would appear. But if you’ve ever picked up a product because the packaging had the word “natural”…

Desmog

Fossil Fuel Giants Paying Thousands to Sponsor COP29 Events

By Sam Bright 11/12/24

Oil and gas giants are paying tens of thousands of dollars in order to sponsor events at this year’s flagship climate talks in Baku, Azerbaijan.

The Conversation

Individual action on climate was tarred as greenwashing or virtue signalling. But it still has a place

By Sukhbir Sandhu 10/30/24

Two decades ago, the fight against climate change was often framed as a personal choice. You might try to reduce your carbon footprint by avoiding flights or change your buying habits to avoid meat or…

npr

California sues ExxonMobil for misleading public on plastic recycling

By Alejandra Borunda and Michael Copley 09/23/24

California has filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit against ExxonMobil, alleging that the company has spent decades misleading the public about the efficacy of plastic recycling.

Los Angeles Times

California lawsuit accuses Exxon Mobil of misleading the public about plastic recycling

By Tony Briscoe and Susanne Rust 09/23/24

California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta has filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit aimed at Exxon Mobil Corp. — one of the largest producers of petroleum-based polymers — for allegedly deceiving the public about the potential for plastic…

The Washington Post

California accuses ExxonMobil of lying about plastics being recyclable

By Allyson Chiu 09/23/24

The state of California sued ExxonMobil on Monday, accusing the oil giant of misleading the public about the effectiveness of plastics recycling and contributing to the flood of bottles, bags and wrappers polluting waterways in…

Los Angeles Times

Column: Fossil fuel ads are rampant in American sports. That’s not good

By Sammy Roth 09/19/24

Less than half a mile from the California Capitol, the Sacramento Kings play basketball in a solar-powered arena that the team’s owner says has helped make the Kings “the most sustainable franchise in all of…

The Guardian

Out of 1,500 global climate policies, only 63 have really worked. That’s where green spin has got us

By George Monbiot 09/12/24

Let’s talk about perceptionware. Perceptionware is technology whose main purpose is to create an impression of action. Whether it will ever work at scale is less important, in some cases entirely beside the point. If…

The Washington Post

Opinion: The next big climate target: Ending carbon offset scams

By The Editorial Board 08/26/24

Most major airlines now offer customers an add-on to their ticket purchase: the chance to offset the carbon emissions generated by their flight. Guilt-free travel for a few extra bucks: It almost sounds too good…

DeSmog

How U.S. governments could crack down on greenwashing

By Emily Sanders 08/21/24

“Experts agree: [carbon capture and storage] is one of the most important low-carbon technologies required to achieve societal climate goals.”

Los Angeles Times

Column: Activists and celebrities urge Dodgers to dump oil industry advertiser

By Sammy Roth 08/06/24

What do Emmy Award-winning actor Kyra Sedgwick, environmental groups Friends of the Earth and the Rainforest Action Network, the Doors’ former drummer John Densmore, acclaimed climate change activist Bill McKibben and “Anchorman” director Adam McKay’s…

Heated

The plastic industry’s $30 million lie

By Arielle Samuelson 07/25/24

If you’ve tuned into any major TV network in the last few months, you may have seen an ad promising a brand new way to end plastic pollution: advanced recycling.

BLOOMBERG

Inside the Controversy That’s Divided the Carbon Offsets Market

By Alastair Marsh and Ben Elgin 04/13/24

When the biggest funders and promoters of the $2 billion carbon offsets market assembled in London last month, the gathering was billed as a series of technical discussions on subjects such as emissions accounting.

The New York Times

What About Nature Risk?

By Manuela Andreoni 03/14/24

Reporting the corporate risks of climate change is increasingly becoming a required part of doing business. This month, the Securities and Exchange Commission made such disclosures mandatory for public companies in the United States, following…

Carbon Brief

Shell abandons 2035 emissions target and weakens 2030 goal

By Josh Gabbatiss 03/14/24

Shell has abandoned a key climate target for 2035 and weakened another goal for 2030, according to its latest “energy transition strategy”. The oil major has “updated” its target to cut the total “net carbon…

BLOOMBERG

Shell Weakens 2030 Emissions-Cut Target in Move Away From Clean Power

By Laura Hurst 03/14/24

Shell Plc weakened its targets for carbon-emissions cuts in the coming decade, while maintaining the ambition of becoming a net zero company by 2050.

The Guardian

AI likely to increase energy use and accelerate climate misinformation – report

By Oliver Milman 03/07/24

Claims that artificial intelligence will help solve the climate crisis are misguided, with the technology instead likely cause rising energy use and turbocharge the spread of climate disinformation, a coalition of environmental groups has warned.

billmckibben.substack

The most epic (and literal) gaslighting of all time

By Bill MCKibben 03/05/24

I’m listening to John Coltrane through my headphones as I type, in an effort to stay calm enough that I don’t just start sputtering. You might want to do likewise as you read.

The Hill

Exxon CEO blames public for failure to fix climate change

By Saul Elbein 02/28/24

The world isn’t on track to meet its climate goals — and it’s the public’s fault, a leading oil company CEO told journalists. Exxon Mobil Corp. CEO Darren Woods told editors from Fortune that the…

Desmog

Havas CEO Yannick Bolloré Staked His Brand on Caring About the Climate. So Why Is His Company Working for Shell?

By Geoff Dembicki and Others 01/23/24

In a June 2023 video interview, Yannick Bolloré looks relaxed. The rolled-back cuffs of his rumpled blue button-down reveal an array of mismatched wristbands. His collar is open just enough to glimpse a gold pendant…

Sierra Club

‘New Paradigm of Greenwashing’: Global Net-Zero Finance Initiative Takes Worrying Step Backwards

By Adele Shraiman 12/04/23

In recent years, pressure has mounted on the financial sector to take responsibility for its role in propping up the polluting industries driving the climate crisis. In response, financial institutions — from investment banks to…

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