Coca Cola accused of greenwashing? What exactly is greenwashing? Here is every bit explained

Coca-Cola, Unilever, and a few more huge corporations are accused of "greenwashing". As per the Changing Markets Foundation (CMF), in recent years, the number of products that are labeled as green or sustainable has actually enhanced greatly, however, many household brands are actually greenwashing. Even if these businesses and more claim to be highly sustainable, emissions around the globe are only rising and the extraction is increasing.

Coca-Cola, a top carbonated soft drinks manufacturer, is accused of greenwashing. What exactly is greenwashing? Let's understand.

Greenwashing- EXPLAINED

Greenwashing is actually the procedure of fabricating or extracting a particular product, brand, service, or company's green credentials.

 Greenwashing as a practice is seen as an unethical one. It involves making deceptive and false claims. Firms that are trying their best to move towards sustainability can actually find practices like greenwashing unfair and hurtful.

However, while the practice is unethical, this does not stop brands from making use of the hack. Greenwashing as a practice is becoming increasingly prevalent. The practice can be seen in a myriad of industries that as fashion, energy, food, finance, electronics, and more.

There can be various subtle forms of greenwashing used. For instance, a brand may make use of colors and logos that make it seem ecologically friendly, while the reality may be different. Some brands may also choose to hide certain facts about their production or the product, and this can also come under the ambit of greenwashing. A more direct form of greenwashing would be the case of brands making random and unambiguous product claims, such as calling it "responsible", "sustainable", or "carbon-neutral", when in reality, it may be not.

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Deceiving the customers

Claims that appear so confident deceive customers into a fallacy of security. This sense of false security actually prevents people from seeing the real picture of the exploitation of Earth, thereby giving such companies a good chance to exploit it more.

Sian Sutherland, co-founder of Plastic Planet expressed that these days, plastic is a strong and emotional term. People are increasingly becoming more and more aware of the adverse effects of plastic. Therefore, the word "plastic" comes with a great deal of guilt as well, said Sian. Brands are taking full advantage of this guilt.

Is the practice of greenwashing very common?

Unfortunately, yes.

As per research conducted in the year 2021 by the Changing Markets Foundation, over 59 percent of green claims made by manufacturers of the fashion industry are surprisingly deceptive in nature, according to the criteria of the Competition and Markets Authority in the UK.

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