INSIGHTS
Communicating social, environmental, and governance impact carries the risk of greenwashing, an issue that can have reputational consequences as well as regulatory and legal implications. To minimise this risk, we have developed, and continue to refine, a structured approach to greenwashing mitigation that is embedded throughout our work.
It has been here for some time
Greenwashing refers to the practice of creating the impression that an organisation has a positive social or environmental impact when such claims cannot be substantiated. A common example is the use of vague terms such as “eco-friendly” without credible evidence, or the promotion of sustainability messaging while an organisation’s core activities cause significant environmental harm.
While greenwashing has existed as long as modern marketing, the term itself got into use after 1986, when environmentalist Jay Westerweld used it in an essay inspired by a trip to Fiji. He encountered a sign in a resort encouraging guests to reuse towels to “help protect the environment,” a message he found misleading given that the same resort was simultaneously expanding and constructing new bungalows.
Greenwashing in focus
Awareness of greenwashing has grown significantly in recent years. As climate change has become increasingly visible and urgent, environmental claims have also become valuable branding, reputational, and financial signals. Following the Paris Agreement, many companies made ambitious sustainability and net-zero commitments faster than they transformed their business practices. Increased ESG reporting, scrutiny from journalists and NGOs, and stronger regulation have since exposed gaps between rhetoric and reality, turning greenwashing into a mainstream concern about accountability and trust.
In a recent example, a French civil court ruled that oil company TotalEnergies misled consumers through its 2021 advertising and website claims suggesting it could become “carbon neutral by 2050” and portraying itself as a major driver of the energy transition, despite continued expansion of oil and gas production. The court found these statements likely to deceive the public and ordered their removal under France’s greenwashing law, alongside reparations to the NGOs that brought the case.
Current EU regulation
Within the European Union, greenwashing is primarily regulated under the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD), which prohibits misleading environmental and sustainability claims assessed from the perspective of the average consumer. This framework is being further strengthened by the Empowering Consumers Directive, currently being transposed into national legislation, which explicitly bans practices such as vague environmental claims, self-created sustainability labels, and misleading carbon-neutral claims based on offsets. Additionally, although the UCPD is neutral in this respect, this directive emphasizes that it applies to informing consumers in the context of environmental as well as social impacts, such as human rights, gender equality, animal welfare, and others.
In addition, the proposed Green Claims Directive, once adopted, would require mandatory pre-verification of environmental claims by independent bodies. Parallel regulatory developments, including the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the EU Taxonomy, make sustainability claims increasingly comparable with audited data, significantly increasing enforcement and litigation risk.
A shared responsibility
At ESG Films, we have developed an internal methodology to support our clients in mitigating greenwashing risk, one that we continuously refine through experience and collaboration. Our approach is based on shared responsibility. Clients are responsible for providing substantiated claims and supporting evidence, while we act as an external filter, ensuring those claims are translated into accurate, contextualised, and non-misleading audiovisual communication.
Greenwashing risk is assessed throughout the entire production process, with particular emphasis on early stages. In those early stages, briefing and scriptwriting, where narrative and creative direction is established, is where we strive to make the most done. Scripts are reviewed with the support of external ESG expert advisors, and this review continues through production and post-production, where visual framing and editing choices can significantly influence interpretation.
By integrating greenwashing risk assessment into every stage of the production process and working in close partnership with our clients and external experts, we ensure that impact narratives are not only compelling, but also responsible, and aligned with evolving regulatory expectations. In an environment of increasing scrutiny, this approach protects both audiences and organisations, while reinforcing trust as the foundation of meaningful communication.
Cover photo: Markus Spiske (Unsplash)
