Avoid Costly Penalties with Accurate Green Marketing

An organization’s sustainability efforts can benefit from green marketing. This highlights the product or service and the company’s environmental credentials, but there is a fine line between green marketing and greenwashing.

Green marketing is when organizations sell products or services, or produce environmental, social and governance (ESG) reports, based on genuine environmental positives and data. This is enhanced by third-party verification. Green marketing is considered honest and transparent, and meets several criteria:

• Sustainably manufactured
• Free of toxic or ozone-depleting materials
• Recyclable or made from recycled materials
• Made from renewable materials, such as bamboo
• Not made of materials harvested from protected areas, or that negatively impact threatened or endangered species through harvesting
• Not made via slave or unfairly paid labor
• Does not use excessive packaging
• Designed to be repairable, rather than disposable

Beware. If green marketing is based on falsehoods or does not meet sustainable business practice standards, the organization could be accused of greenwashing and receive hefty penalties, negative press and reputational damage. For example, in 2022, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued USD 5.5 million in penalties to Kohl’s Inc. (USD 2.5 million) and Walmart, Inc. (USD 3 million) due to deceptive environmental claims about rayon products.

30+ years of sustainability experience

We have been a leader in sustainability and ESG for over 30 years. With expertise in all major industries, we understand each sector’s pain points and have the technical knowledge and logistical capabilities to ensure realistic sustainability outcomes.

Our ESG services can help you mitigate supply chain risks, implement better processes, address stakeholder concerns and accomplish sustainability goals.

Leveraging our compliance, verification and training expertise, we create solutions tailored to your requirements.

Global technical expertise and network

With a vast global network of experts and facilities, we offer high-level support to clients addressing local, national and international sustainability risks. Our experts provide comprehensive technical support while understanding the local language, standards and customs, making it easier for you to facilitate local and global projects.

For more information, visit our new IMPACT NOW for sustainability page or contact us to discuss your sustainability requirements.