Companies looking into improving their sustainability efforts may have come across the term greenwashing, when businesses exaggerate their environmental credentials for good publicity.
The term has become synonymous with businesses being deceitful about their environmental agenda, and it has led to scandals such the Volkswagen emissions scandal and the Coca-Cola scandal, where the soft drink giant was accused of misleading claims about its recycling efforts.
Businesses looking to have an effective net zero strategy will no doubt try to avoid greenwashing.
We spoke to our sustainability consultants about the most effective ways to steer clear of this.
How can business avoid greenwashing their environmental strategies?
Fabiola Useche:
Setting targets aligned to the Paris Agreement and the Agenda 2030 (SDGs), that can be followed up by KPIs to quantify results for reporting and disclosure publicly.
Laura Harron:
With increased public pressure for companies to adopt more sustainable business practices, the market is more sensitive to greenwashing than ever before. A net zero strategy should be tangible and transparent. Specialised consultants can assist businesses in understanding their current greenhouse gases emission profile, the market expectations and standards for science-based targets, and the effective tools, management strategies and reporting frameworks for reaching net zero targets.
How does a sustainability consultant help a business and its energy efficiency?
Fabiola Useche:
The sustainability consultant assesses the risks and opportunities of their impacts of their activities to the environment, society, and economy, from outlining strategies to prevent and mitigate risks, but also to improve areas of opportunities for the corporate sustainability.
Laura Harron:
Engaging a sustainability consultant can assist a business develop a strong strategy and management plan for energy efficiency and decarbonisation. Specialised consultants will not only have effective practices for reducing energy consumption, they will also understand the relevant regulatory and market risks which businesses are currently facing, and where the associated opportunities are for adopting more sustainable business models.
How can ClearVUE.Business help companies avoid greenwashing?
The best way for companies to avoid greenwashing is to have a concrete, measurable plan in place to reduce their environmental impact.
At ClearVUE.Business, we help businesses understand their current energy and carbon policies before establishing a framework for their long-term net zero game plan.
This is underpinned by our energy and carbon accounting platform, ClearVUE.Zero, which monitors energy data across all resources and site locations, down to the asset level.
Businesses then can benefit from lower emissions, and lower energy costs, thanks to our energy efficiency strategy.
