Inevitably, a tricky question then rears its head: how do you effectively communicate your environmental initiatives while avoiding greenwashing? 

Why you should communicate your environmental initiatives 

Before we dive deeper into greenwashing, let’s look at why you should tell the world about your green initiatives. Unfortunately, fear of greenwashing has caused some businesses to ‘greenhush‘ – aka shy away from promoting their sustainability initiatives. But staying silent means missing out on some significant benefits. Communicating your dedication to sustainability can:

• Increase existing customer trust and attract new customers
• Improve employee engagement, loyalty, and morale
• Enhance your organization’s brand image
• Give you a competitive edge in the market
• Impress investors

….and the list of advantages goes on! You just have to do it the right way.

What greenwashing is – and how it can negatively impact a business

To understand how to avoid greenwashing, we should clarify what this term means. Simply put, greenwashing is any occasion when a company deliberately or accidentally creates misleading information about its environmental performance or the impact of a product or service. 

There are many ways in which a company can greenwash – for example:

• Making generic, vague, or unproven claims about a product or service’s positive environmental impact
• Purposefully exaggerating their positive effect on the environment (or climate or biodiversity)
• Using untrue, selective, or misleading messaging to distract from the realities of their environmental impact.

However, whatever form it takes, the fact remains: these deceptive practices can really damage a company’s reputation. Just as effective communication of your sustainability initiatives can build loyalty and trust, greenwashing can erode it, leading to a loss of credibility with customers, investors, suppliers, and other stakeholders. 

Not only that, but as greenwashing regulations increase, it can also get you into legal hot water. So, naturally, most companies are keen to avoid falling into the greenwashing trap.

Countering greenwashing in your communications

The good news is that avoiding greenwashing is relatively straightforward. You just need to focus on three key values: meaningful impact, solid evidence, and transparency. 

So, how do you make sure your communications reflect these? Let’s look at each individually. 

IMPACT
Pick impactful projects and investing meaningfully:

• Careful selection: Start by choosing initiatives that genuinely make a difference and are in line with your business’s sustainability strategy and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) commitments. Projects should provide a holistic and net positive impact on the environment and any communities involved.
• Proportional investment: Ensure that your financial commitment to these projects is proportionate to your company’s overall environmental impact.

EVIDENCE
Back up your claims with solid evidence:

• Detailed documentation: Support any and all communications about your initiatives with verifiable evidence.
• Avoid vagueness: Steer clear of making vague or unsubstantiated claims, and skip subjective language like ‘greenest’ or ‘cleanest’. 
• Use comprehensive KPIs: Implement appropriate KPIs to measure success. For example, when it comes to supporting biodiversity-boosting projects, avoid focusing on oversimplified or arbitrary metrics like the number of trees planted. Instead, focus on the ecological impact of the entire project.

TRANSPARENCY
Make your communications transparent:

• Clear and honest reporting: Make certain all communications around your initiatives – and impact – are authentic, representative, accurate, and timely. 
• Specifics matter: Share important details with your shareholders – for example, which species of trees are being grown, their ecological benefits, and the exact locations of projects. 
• Regular updates: Provide customers, employees, and other stakeholders with ongoing updates to keep them informed and maintain credibility.

By sticking to these three principles, you can confidently communicate your environmental initiatives without worrying that you’re greenwashing. So, let’s look at how WeForest can support you in your efforts.  

Engaging, greenwash-free messaging with NGOs

WeForest offers a range of tools and services to help partners effectively communicate their positive impact in an open, evidence-based, and transparent way,  including: 

1. Project and progress reports: Evidence-based reports offer insight into the outcomes of your initiatives. WeForest delivers twice-yearly updates on the ecological and community impacts of your projects – which you can use to create consistent, accurate, and up-to-date communications.
   
2. Digital maps: Our explorer.land digital maps allow you to explore the specific locations where your trees are growing, discover which of the United Nations’  17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) they contribute towards, and access many other details. You can use this tool (and others like it) to share stories and data directly from the field, so your audience can see tangible results and better understand the context and impact of your partnership projects.

3. Personalized web pages: WeForest offers dedicated sponsor web pages that showcase the impact of partners’ contributions. These pages include detailed metrics, stories, and data points that give a transparent overview of how your investments are making a difference – so you can guarantee that every claim you make is supported by verifiable information. 

4. Impact certificates: We produce data-based impact certificates that you can use to help you promote your contributions or give to employees or other shareholders.
   
5. Content creation: Our Marketing and Communications team  supports you with videos, photos, stories, and other content from your project(s) for you to use in your own communications. These should be grounded in accurate data and field experiences – so your content is engaging and firmly rooted in the truth.
   
6. Partner badges: Corporate partner badges can be displayed on your website and in your email signatures. These can be used to demonstrate your commitment to your sustainability journey.
   
7. Social media support: WeForest can suggest social media copy for posts that celebrate restoration-related milestones or key environmental dates like Earth Day. We’ll ensure this content is fact-based and reflects the real impact of your initiatives.
   
8. Content and strategy advice: We offer ongoing expert guidance on how best to share the impact of your partnership while avoiding greenwashing. This is a service we offer.
   

Ready to act, but need support?

Keen to combat climate change, boost biodiversity, and uplift communities? Want to do that with an NGO that’ll help you communicate your efforts – effectively and authentically? Then head over to our corporate partnerships page to find out everything you need to know about working with WeForest.