SUSTAINABILITY FEATURE


Greenwashing or Green claims?


As the need for businesses to demonstrate sustainable practices continues to gather pace, so do the risks of greenwashing.


Combat the Crisis C


stakeholders and regulators, businesses are starting to evaluate ESG impacts across their activities. This means they need to collect ESG data, identify areas for improvement, and define how ESG will be integrated into the company strategy. Greenwashing is a form of marketing where misleading information


may persuade the public that an organisation’s products, services, aims and policies are more environmentally friendly than they are. Under proposed legislation, companies could face multi-million-pound fines for promoting their products with unverified environmental claims.


With disputes surrounding green claims on the rise across the UK, businesses need to pause and ensure they are not overselling their environmental benefits, or risk sowing mistrust and being reputationally and financially impacted. Christopher Jockel, principal sustainability consultant at testing, inspection and certification specialist Bureau Veritas, said: “Green


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Consumers are looking for energy-efficient, cost-efficient products, and it is the responsibility of the business to make their customers aware of which products fit these criteria. Arun Bhatoye, head of marketing at Hisense UK, says “Here at Hisense, we have always championed manufacturing products that are affordable yet high- quality, and this is more important than ever as we head towards the winter months amidst a national cost-of-living crisis. Right now, it is our number one priority to help the nation to understand how to best use their appliances to continue with their necessary household chores and reduce their bills as much as possible.” Founded over 50 years ago, Hisense is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of televisions and home appliances. Hisense has a core range of televisions and cooling appliances alongside a portfolio of cooking and laundry products featuring hobs, hoods, ovens, dishwashers and washing machines. Educating the consumer Bhatoye says “As energy bills soar to an all-time high, monitoring our gas and electricity usage has never been more important, and so consumers are looking for alternative solutions to cut down on their energy usage – and in turn, their energy bills. This doesn’t mean that consumers aren’t buying, but the path to purchase is much more considered. Customers


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“Green claims don’t have to be intentionally misleading to be labelled as greenwashing, and in today’s fast moving business communications environment, the risk of conveying uncontrolled or unintentional misinformation is high.“


s the cost-of-living crisis continues to pinch consumer incomes, businesses are having to adapt to a shift in buying habits.


Arun Bhatoye, head of marketing at Hisense UK, highlights the support businesses can provide consumers amidst the challenging cost-of-living crisis.


ompanies are increasingly looking to put environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance at the heart of their strategy. Spurred by investors, customers, employees, external


claims don’t have to be intentionally misleading to be labelled as greenwashing, and in today’s fast moving business communications environment, the risk of conveying uncontrolled or unintentional misinformation is high. Intense scrutiny and action against greenwashing is escalating worldwide, putting organisations and their leaders on notice regarding overstatements or misleading claims and incurring potential reputation and regulatory risk. “Any short-term gain from erroneous, misleading, unsubstantiated, exaggerated, or posturing claims are overwhelmingly lost reputationally and possibly financially through fines in the medium and long term when the claim is debunked in public or in court. The challenge for companies to identify and mitigate greenwashing is complex, which is why we have launched our informative webinar and downloadable guide to understanding Green Claims. Together, these provide a no nonsense, intuitive and digestible way to navigate the myriad of intricacies surrounding greenwashing.” The UK Competition and Markets Authority - the competition


regulator in the United Kingdom - coordinated a global review of randomly selected websites and discovered that 40% of green claims made online could be misleading consumers. Jockel added: “The benefits for businesses who successfully manage their Green Claims are considerable. Not only will they reduce the risk of reputational and financial impacts, but companies can gain a competitive edge and in turn, increase customer retention, while building confidence in the information provided to customers, stakeholders and investors. “At Bureau Veritas we take this risk of miscommunication seriously and our team of sustainability experts can help businesses by presenting a range of solutions to detect and manage greenwashing, ensuring claims are accurate, reliable and not in any way misleading.” Bureau Veritas’ downloadable guide to understanding and managing


Green Claims can be accessed at uwww.bureauveritas.co.uk/sustainability/green-claims.


look to invest in appliances that achieve the best results whilst using the least amount of energy, to help with cutting down bills. During the cost-of-living crisis, retailers and suppliers should be looking at ways in which they can help educate and inform their customers on the best appliances for their individual needs, and support them as much as possible to find the most cost-effective solution. Here at Hisense, energy efficiency has played a large role in product development as we look to new launches in future years. “It’s likely that any appliance which doesn’t need to be switched on for a long amount of time during usage, for example a microwave or toaster is the most efficient small appliance, as it only uses energy whilst it is switched on. It’s also very much dependent on usage – every household is different and has different needs. For example, single-person households may have a large capacity oven and batch cook to make the most of their oven being turned on, whilst larger families might opt for a larger capacity washing machine to bundle loads together. Generally speaking, tumble dryers tend to be the most expensive appliance to run, so switching up this part of your laundry routine to drying your clothes on a traditional clothes horse or drying rack is an easy way to help cut down your energy bills. Of course, defining what the most expensive appliance to run will ultimately come down to usage habits. If you have a larger household, it’s likely to be more cost-effective to invest in a larger capacity washing machine, so that you can fit more clothes in one load,


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