Article by Marina Prat 

Tips on how to be authentic in sustainability.

Consumers have always been the focus of attention for companies and businesses, since they, with their purchase decisions, have the power over a business’s success and failure. That is why marketing techniques focus on studying consumers’ tastes, preferences, opinions and behaviors, in order to offer them what they are looking for. Changing trends in society also force companies and businesses to constantly adapt and renew their products and services, as well as their sales strategies.

In terms of trends, environmental awareness is an increasingly growing value in society and, consequently, among consumers. The climate crisis has accentuated the growing desire of citizens to support a more sustainable world, and this has made sustainability an increasingly frequent concept in the discourse of many companies, as its importance should be integrated into all business areas and human activities, but this is not always the case.

Some advertisers in different sectors opt for false or misleading advertising in order to make their products or services appear more environmentally friendly and sustainable than they really are; this is known as greenwashing. Companies that use this commercial tactic try to “make up” their image so that consumers perceive a sense of concern for the sustainability of their activity, which in many cases does not exist or is not as much as what is communicated.

The consequences of greenwashing are very negative, as it is not only a practice that hinders sustainable development and growth for all, but also affects first and foremost the credibility of companies and their reputation, losing consumer confidence in sustainability claims or labels, and to the detriment of their sales and commercial future.

In order to avoid this practice, different organizations around the world are developing rules on how to communicate with rigor and honesty the efforts of a brand, product or service to be more sustainable, as is the case of the Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM), which has recently published guidelines to help those companies that make sustainability claims to do so in an honest way.

Here are some tips on how to make your company’s sustainability communication authentic, transparent and genuine:

1. Make it clear what sustainability benefits your product has: Make your claims clear and easy to understand for the ordinary user, leaving no room for doubt or confusion. Do not use technical language or information that only a scientist or expert in the field could understand and verify. Also, do not use jargon or misleading language that could give the impression that a product, its components, packaging, or your company is more sustainable than it really is. To do this, always accompany your sustainability claims with a how and a why.

2. Back up your claims with facts and keep them up to date: Demonstrate that your sustainability claims are real with verifiable evidence, and regularly check whether these claims still hold true. A good way to do this is by using ISO-type international standards, identifying the main officially accredited green labels or certificates, or implementing an internal periodic monitoring and optimization system such as calculating your company’s carbon footprint, among others.

3. Comparisons with other products or companies must be fair: When comparing yourself with other brands, companies or products in your advertising and communications, you must not give rise to misunderstandings about the aspects that affect the sustainability of your company, its products and/or services. If companies are compared, they should have the same activity and a similar size (for example, if you have a 100-room hotel, compare yourself with another hotel with the same characteristics). In the case of products and services, these must refer to the same category.

4. Be honest and specific about your company’s sustainability efforts: Generalized language and clichés do not add value to your commitment to sustainability. Advertisements such as “eco-friendly,” “environmentally friendly” or “100% sustainable” are dubious and misleading. Provide concrete information about your sustainability initiatives and plans rather than vague or unclear statements about your company’s commitment and core values. It is important to distinguish between general information about your company’s sustainability and specific information about the benefits of an individual or specific product. Any statements about your company’s sustainability ambitions should be commensurate with your actual efforts, so it is important to use statements about future goals only if they are clear, concrete and verifiable (e.g. in your strategy).

5. Make sure visual claims and labels are helpful rather than confusing or misleading: Many companies abuse shades of green and suggestive images of natural elements or landscapes (such as trees, plants, dreamy landscapes…) to bring us closer to the idea of naturalness and freshness. These can be seen in your communications (websites, social networks) but also in your advertising and in the packaging or wrapping of your products. We recommend you to use only symbols, colors, images or labels that relate to your activity, support your claims and do not give a false impression about the characteristics of your product or service.

6. If you have doubts about the degree of sustainability of a product, get informed: Being honest in your sustainability claims implies being informed about what is going to be communicated. At present, there are still no clear regulations about which aspects can or cannot be communicated, and which sustainability claims are correct and which are not. For this reason, your role is crucial. Do not use words or advertisements for which you are not clear about their definition or meaning simply because they catch the consumer’s attention. Try to keep yourself informed, especially of those aspects that affect the sustainability of your economic sector.

7. Analyze the value chain of your suppliers before making contradictory statements: Last but not least, keep all these tips in mind when choosing your suppliers! Don’t be misled by false claims and analyze the entire value chain of your supplier and contracting list to find out if they are really bringing sustainability to your company. If you hire an “eco” product, but to reach your establishment it has to travel a long distance in transport and generate a considerable CO2 footprint, it is not reasonable to claim that it is sustainable. Always bet on local products and local commerce.

We hope these recommendations have helped you to stop greenwashing and to build honest and truly sustainable economic sectors!

Choose your platform and share this post!

Published On: October 27th, 2022 / Categories: Marketing and communication, Sustainable Tourism, Tourism, Tourism strategy /

Subscribe to receive our latest news

You will receive periodically our new articles.

Responsible for data processing: Pitarch Urani Associated Advisors SL

Purpose: To subscribe you to our newsletter.

Legitimacy: Consent

Data transfers: Transfers are made to the company Mailchimp, located in the United States, which complies with the guarantees specified in the RGPD.

Rights: You may exercise your rights of access, rectification, limitation, objection, portability, or withdraw consent by sending an email to info@paxadvising.com

More information: For more information see our  Privacy Policy.