How to Avoid Greenwashing

The Key to Avoiding Greenwashing? Third-party Data & Trusted Sustainability Standards

How to Effectively Cultivate and Communicate Your Sustainability Story

Greenwashing isn’t always deliberate. Here’s how to avoid it.

It’s a business owner’s worst nightmare.

You think you’ve done everything right. You invested in recyclable packaging. You sourced what you believed to be eco-friendly materials. You eliminated next-day shipping. 

You feel secure in your claim that your products are eco-friendly.

Then, the dreaded accusation comes: “They’re greenwashing.”

You may have used a supplier that isn’t following the practices they promised, or perhaps you made a labelling misstep. Regardless of the error, your brand now faces the arduous task of removing the harmful greenwashing allegations. 

Building a sustainable business is not a simple task. It requires a deep dive into your suppliers and your supplier’s suppliers, meticulous labeling, and data collection on everything from energy usage to the carbon emissions of your deliveries. 

It’s a tough task. But, if you want to label your company and products as eco-friendly, it’s necessary.

The key to avoiding greenwashing is by using science-backed sustainability standards. Here’s what that entails.

What does greenwashing look like in 2025?

When we think of greenwashing, it’s easy to picture an evil person in a business suit rubbing their hands together as they rake in the cash from well-meaning customers they’ve blatantly lied to.

Unfortunately, it’s all too easy for well-meaning companies to accidentally greenwash when they think their product is more sustainable than it is.

Here are some greenwashing examples:

  • Labelling something as 100% compostable when it’s only industrial compostable.
  • Making eco-friendly claims without certification or proof.
  • Claiming sustainability when you’ve only made one meaningful change (e.g. designing a proven sustainable product only to use single-use packaging and inefficient delivery systems).
  • Failing to adequately trace your supply chains to ensure sustainability throughout the value chain.

If you think your company’s practices are sustainable, but you haven’t done anything to measure your impact, earn eco-friendly labels, or gain green business certification, then you should not make sustainability claims.

Why is it damaging?

Even if your brand is well-meaning, a greenwashing accusation can be ruinous, especially if you’re an SME who doesn’t have the resources to handle a PR crisis. 

Here are some of the biggest ways greenwashing can harm your brand:

  • Compliance: Your company could face fines under laws like EU’s Green Claims Directive, California’s SB 343 recycling label law, and FTC’s pending Green Guides.
  • Trust: Customers want brands to help them be more sustainable, and they’re put off if they feel as though they were made to think they were being sustainable when they weren’t.
  • Investor loss: Investors want to support green brands, not just because it’s morally correct, but also because it shows climate and compliance resilience. If your sustainability claims are shown to be false, you could scare away investors.

How to avoid greenwashing

Avoiding greenwashing in your business is a matter of steering clear of buzzwords, practicing transparency, and committing to a genuine, measurable sustainability strategy backed by third-party data. 

1. Use specific language

The terms “sustainable” and “eco-friendly” mean nothing. These terms leave way too much room for interpretation, and what eco-friendly means to your brand might mean something else to your customers.

Instead, tell your customers exactly what you are doing to minimize your company’s environmental footprint in clear and direct language. Gather data to back it up, and share this with your audience.

2. Practice transparency using third-party data

It’s now become common practice for all companies to publicly publish their sustainability reports (and, in some cases, this is a requirement, especially for companies that do business in the EU).

But even if your company isn’t required to share its ESG data, it should consider sharing it, anyway, especially if it makes sustainability claims in its marketing. Transparency will help your customers feel secure in your claims, and it will help ensure that you stay on top of your sustainability goals.

Publicizing these documents opens your business up for critique. This is a good thing. Informed customers, investors, and experts may point out shortcomings, but that gives you an opportunity to address them. 

Just be real. Customers love that. 

3. Track and measure ESG goals using trusted standards

If you want to market your product and brand as sustainable, you need hard data to back it up.

You don’t gather this data willy-nilly. You must follow a trusted standard that aligns with your company and go from there.

The good news is that there are loads of sustainability data collection software platforms out there that automate your sustainability data collection based on these standards, making this bit easier.

Here are some of the top sustainability standards:

4. Take accountability for your mistakes

If you discover that a product you marketed as sustainable carries a greater impact than you thought, be upfront about it.

Customers are more forgiving than you might think, and a simple apology can go a long way. This study found that customers were more willing to forgive companies for greenwashing if:

  1. The greenwashing instance was perceived as less severe.
  2. The apology from the company was sincere.
  3. The company laid out plans to be better in the future.

Making mistakes is fine, as long as you’re honest about them and work to rectify them. 

5. Earn certifications and labels to prove your claims

Sustainability isn’t something that can simply be claimed. It requires third-party audits and documentation proving that your claims are accurate.

While earning these certifications takes a lot of work, it’s great for your brand and the planet; when you earn trusted sustainability certifications and labels, you and your customers can feel secure knowing that your products truly carry little impact.

Here are some common labels that back product sustainability claims:

Sustainability marketing meets at the intersection of data and storytelling

Once you can prove your products and brand are truly sustainable, you should shout it from the mountaintops. It’s a big deal to earn high ESG scores and trusted sustainability labels. Let that be a key feature of your marketing strategy.

But it still needs to engage your audience. Data by itself is boring. Figure out how to present your sustainability data in a way that tells a story and captures your customers’ attention.

Strong sustainability marketing combines ESG data with storytelling to ensure that the technical details resonate with your audience. Take some time to deeply understand your target customers, their existing knowledge, and their sustainability concerns, and use that information to choose how to present your data.

For example, a beauty care company might focus more on the human side of their sustainability impact. They’ll tell stories about where their ingredients are sourced, the ethics of the farms they work with, and why they chose to source their products the way they did.

On the other hand, a B2B company with an audience aligned with their industry might spotlight the numbers. They’ll share graphs and use more technical language to share their sustainability goals and achievements. However, don’t fall into the trap of forgetting that business leaders are human, too. Numbers-based content doesn’t have to be dry. Maintain interest by adding some blanding flair.

Both brands should still publicly publish their ESG data, but when it comes to marketing their impact, they must take different approaches to align with their various audiences.

The greatest enemy of greenwashing? Data.

Brands can no longer make sustainability claims without data to back it up. What makes a product sustainable is more than just vibes. You must verify its impact using trusted sustainability standards, third-party audits, and science-backed labeling systems.

Do not claim that your product is sustainable until you’ve earned the right to do so. Build a data-backed sustainable business, then you can build a sustainability marketing strategy immune from greenwashing accusations.


Looking to grow your sustainable marketing strategy through your web content? Contact me for a discovery call, and we can discuss how I can help you achieve your sustainability content goals.