GREEN, GREEN…WASH, WASH… HUSH, HUSH…!


Greenwashing is now giving way to Green Hushing.


Back in those heady days…of early 2021 (…yes…I am being ironic!)…yes…back then, I wrote a piece for the ‘Ghost…’ called ‘ESG…Another Buzz Word to Try to Remember…!’. You can read it on the following link. I wanted to convey a new sentiment, that was turning into a movement and to make sure this audience was prepared and ready for the possible future outcomes. Since then ESG has grown into a worldwide phenomenon…and I don’t think I need to go into that too much, other than two developments, one familiar and well documented…and another more recent and not so well discussed.


The first and well known development is what is known as ‘…Greenwashing…’. Actually, let me take a step back and highlight what one newsletter called Good News, Bad News and Weird News(1)


.


The Good News was that 96% of the World’s largest 250 companies by revenue are reporting on their sustainability and/or ESG work according to a survey done in October 2022(2)


. 80% have set up Climate


targets on either Global or National emission goals. This is up from 51% in 2020.


The Bad News was that only 20% of the World’s top 166 companies by emissions have set science-based targets, according to an investor group report(3)


.


Now comes the Weird News! A significant portion of the companies that are setting targets…DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT THEM! In a survey of 1,200 private companies, 72% had indeed set emissions targets in accordance with Global climate goals…but between 23 - 25% of those, did not plan to publicise these targets(4)


.


This all relates to and goes back to…the Greenwashing development. Greenwashing, in brief, is the act of providing the public and/or investors with misleading or outright false information about the environmental impact of a company’s products and operations. It may also occur when a company attempts to emphasise sustainable aspects of a product to overshadow the company’s involvement in environmentally damaging practices that are performed through the use of environmental imagery, misleading labels and hiding


18 | ADMISI - The Ghost In The Machine | Q1 Edition 2023


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