Anti-greenwash campaign outs 388 businesses

Two Sides’ anti-greenwash campaign saw its busiest year in 2019, finding 388 organisations that were using unsubstantiated claims about print and paper’s impact on the environment.

Two Sides reports that 131 of the organisations engaged in 2019 have removed or changed their messaging.

Kellie Northwood – CEO of The Real Media Collective, which runs the campaign locally – said Australia and New Zealand have achieved a 67 per cent conversion of changing incorrect messaging.

“We continue to tackle the local government claims currently encouraging people to go online for rates and notices,” she said.

Two Sides says in ongoing efforts to cut costs, many banks, telecom providers, utility companies, and governmental organisations are encouraging their customers to switch to digital services by using unfounded environmental claims such as “Go Green – Go Paperless” and “Choose e-billing and help save a tree”

“Our Keep Me Posted campaign partners with Two Sides in challenging the environmental myths about paper as well as highlighted, particularly in Australia, the digital divide that is alienating consumers who prefer printed bills and statements,” Northwood said.

Jonathan Tame, of the Two Sides global team, said, “Not only are these claims in breach of advertising rules, but they are hugely damaging to an industry which has a solid and continually improving environmental record.

“Far from ‘saving trees’, a healthy market for forest products, such as paper, encourages the long-term growth of forests through sustainable forest management,” Tame said.

“Many of the organisations we engage are always surprised to learn than European forests have actually been growing by 1500 football pitches every day.”

Because of the huge reach of some of these organisations, unsubstantiated claims about paper have a damaging effect on consumer perceptions of paper, Tame said.

“For this reason, the Anti-greenwash campaign will continue to be a priority of Two Sides,” he said.

“We are grateful for the co-operation of the hundreds of organisations we have worked with in recent years. We are also thankful for the many industry stakeholders and members of the public who send Two Sides examples of greenwash.”