greenwashing

Carbon Neutral: Plant A Tree?

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Offsetting carbon emissions: why it is misleading


The carbon neutral definition may lead people to believe that a brand claiming this practice is sustainable. But, planting trees isn’t enough to solve the climate change issue.

Indeed, it’s always interesting to read how the fashion industry is involved in sustainable practices. Which, now, we can place under the umbrella of corporate change. We get itchy just thinking about it! There is no company that doesn’t talk about its eco-friendly policies. The bigger they are, the more they blurt out promises they cannot keep.

Sustainable brands


According to the Circular Fashion Index 2023, Gucci is the most sustainable among luxury brands. Kearny, a strategic consultancy company that analyses the impact of the circularity of brands, operates this ranking. They rank fast fashion brands, too! So, fast fashion has sustainable practices –really?

We feel a little disappointed when agencies release these rankings because of the misleading impact. In fact, we think industries use the word sustainable too much. After checking out those rankings, our question is: how can brands structured on an overproduction model be sustainable?

Carbon neutral or greenwashing?


But, while some magazines posted the list of the most sustainable brands or sustainable mega entities, The Guardian released an article that dampens enthusiasm. 

“Adverts that claim products are carbon neutral using offsets are to be banned by the UK’s advertising watchdog unless companies can prove they really work, the Guardian can reveal, as Gucci becomes the latest company to struggle with a high-profile environmental commitment based on offsetting.
Amid growing concern that firms are misleading consumers about the environmental impact of their products, the Advertising Standards Authority’s (ASA) is to begin stricter enforcement around the use of terms such as “carbon neutral”, “net zero” and “nature positive” as part of a greenwashing crackdown later this year after a six-month review.”

The Guardian

Offset CO2 emissions: what does it mean? 


Offsetting CO2 emissions means balancing the amount of CO generated by any activity through reforestation, parks and natural reserves protection. These projects generate carbon credits.

“In January, a joint Guardian investigation found that many rainforest offsets certified by Verra, which operates the world’s leading carbon standard, had little impact despite being widely used by major companies for environmental claims, also finding evidence of forced evictions at a flagship project in Peru used by Disney and Apple.”

The Guardian


Specifically, The Guardian revealed that more than 90% of rainforest carbon offsets by the biggest certifier are worthless! Therefore, planting trees isn’t helping with climate change.

When big brands, corporations and millionaires talk about sustainability and carbon emissions, always be careful. They are the problem. And if they want to be part of the solution, they must change their overproduction model and lifestyle first. 

Changing marketing isn’t enough. Carbon-neutral and sustainable claims are just smoke and mirrors.

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EU Commission: A Plan Against Greenwashing

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Can non-mandatory rules fight greenwashing?


On March 22nd, the EU Commission released a plan against greenwashing to protect consumers from unreliable green claims. However, these new rules leave some room for interpretation, which is likely to lead to further confusion.

Environmental claims aren’t reliable

Over the last five years, we started digging deep into sustainable matters. And how tricky it is for people to understand which label is sustainable or not. That is because of greenwashing: the process of brands and companies deceiving consumers to believe they are green when they are not. Obviously, brands release fake green claims to sell more. Indeed, the sustainability business is flourishing. And perhaps, those who believe in fairy tales are happy with it!

The data on greenwashing


These are the data on greenwashing:
53% of green claims are vague, misleading or unfounded information.
40% of claims have no supporting evidence.
1/2 Half of all green labels offer weak or non-existent verification.
There are 230 sustainability labels and 100 green energy labels in the EU, with vastly different levels of transparency.

So, the new criteria aim to make green claims more reliable across the EU, protecting consumers from greenwashing. They also contribute to fostering a circular economy centered around reuse, repair, and recycling.

Expected impacts


“With certain consumers purchasing products that will be truly better for the environment, it is estimated that the impacts on the environment will be highly positive.”

Now the above statement may sound like greenwashing, too. In fact, the only “better for the environment” comes from a drastic reduction of new products and not more eco-products!

The controversial point


“However, it remains a decision of companies to include (or not) environmental claims in their voluntary commercial communications. This means that the companies can control their costs by determining the scope of the claim (if any) considering its expected return on investment. In short, the costs of substantiation are of a voluntary nature to companies as they are part of one’s marketing strategy and therefore credible estimations of the overall cost for the Union market are difficult.”

Therefore, these rules aren’t mandatory for companies. In fact, businesses have been given some leeway on how to provide evidence of their green claims. Likewise, governments will have the discretion to modify the guidelines when transposing them into national legislation.

In conclusion, without unified regulations, the EU plan to fight greenwashing won’t stop greenwashing!

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Community: Understanding The True Meaning

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Valuable insight from Simon Sinek


Now everything revolves around the concept of community. But can you understand the true meaning of it? Simon Sinek had the perfect response.

“A community is
a group of people
who agree to grow together.”
Simon Sinek

Community & growth


According to Simon Sinek, the purpose of a community is not just about having something in common, sharing a culture, heritage or a specific interest. It’s deeper than that. In fact, there’s an element of growth which comes from a journey you enrol in with a group of people. Specifically, growth is the product of a reciprocal process of shared interactions.

Community: making a change together


Fashion to celebrate the value of research and to tell the story of our times: this is a mission we share with people who want to make a change. And it’s a growth process, indeed. Because through our activity, we do more than just fashion. We use our blog and connections to discuss fashion and lifestyle as key to analysing society and promoting climate change awareness. And sustainability against greenwashing.

We started by ordering small productions of international brands and independent designers. An exclusive selection of timeless fashion and meaningful garments without gender barriers. While we are studying how to implement a practice of circular fashion, we shed light on what we consume and how we throw away, bringing about critical discussions.

What we learned


Our planet is an open-air landfill, and we must stop expecting our litter to disappear magically. Furthermore, we cannot move from capitalism to green capitalism just to keep consuming as we did before. We need something different to fight the climate emergency.

Buy less (far less), buy better is how we lead to thoughtful consumption.

Telling stories about fashion, lifestyle and climate change, inspiring and being inspired, we have a positive impact on each other. As a tiny community, we try to change for the better. And so we grow together, open to possibilities.

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Corporate Change & Sustainability: This Is Greenwashing!

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The era of branded change: how corporations deceive people


We are facing a new wind called corporate change: an intersection of sustainability and change. Specifically, corporations are doing this through advertising, sponsoring, hosting panels, summits, and so on. Which, in other words, sounds like branded change. Either sustainability needed marketing to reach a wider audience, or we can clearly say: this is greenwashing! Smoke and mirrors designed to make money.

The conversations on sustainability encounter the favour of corporations. Indeed, the more the discussions multiply, the more they need to get involved–fingers in the pie. But since our planet has reached the point of no return, the narrative turns out as dangerous. And even if the facades are beautiful, questions should arise.

Every day a new greenwashing candy!


Every day, we’re presented with a new greenwashing pearl:
• Eco-conscious movements sponsored by big conglomerates.
• Corporations like Coca Cola sponsoring COP27. 
• Fashion Group Inditex (Zara) partnering with WWF. 

It sounds weird. Don’t you think so?

And what about the fresh new one: UAE names oil chief to lead COP28 talks! Yes, an oil boss will lead the climate summit! 

Does it make any sense? Can we trust them? 

They make millions by exploiting the planet, yet they promote a conference to address climate change. It seems as though one single institution is selling both the poison and the cure–all at the same time! There’s a name for these practices, an internationally recognized definition: conflict of interest. Perhaps corporations or top managers aren’t familiar with it.

How can we trust those who created the environmental destruction we’re facing? And yet, they make money from it! In order to prioritise profit and growth, corporations have taken deliberate decisions ignoring the side effects on the planet and on the people. Now they can even lead summits on the climate emergency, but they aren’t the ones who will ever bring effective solutions. 

Corporate change? This is greenwashing!


However, you might think that what matters is spreading the conversation on sustainability, regardless of who funds it. Well, no! Those who say that have other purposes than change.  

We quote cobsinsights.com – “Can we trust corporate sustainability reporting?”:

“corporate or business sustainability is simply NOT planetary sustainability.”

And so, firms can invent stories to make the narrative engaging, but that doesn’t mean those stories are real. There’s a gap between rhetoric and action. All these people can do is keep an outdated system alive.

In conclusion, we can easily explain this new wave of corporate change & sustainability in a few words: this is greenwashing!

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2022: A Year In Fashion

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Looking back at the moments that defined fashion this year


Looking back at 2022, it seems that this year in fashion went by without any tangible sign of change. Indeed, retracing the events and analysing how brands run their businesses, everyone went happily back to normal.

Fashion advertising


Advertising released catchy stories creating a bubble that depicted a universe disconnected from reality. Over the 80s and 90s, the context promoted superstars, but now that ostentation is pointless and not appealing.
As regards the filed of marketing, forget sustainability, it’s all about greenwashing.

2022 in fashion design


From a design perspective, less but better was supposed to be the guiding principle to help the industry move forward. A clean and more focused fresh restart after the pandemic. But it seems that message has not been taken seriously by fashion brands. Perhaps it was something nice to say during a tiring moment, a way to move with the flow. Indeed, we witnessed a setback during the last fashion shows.

Furthermore, now that celebrations and parties are back, sequins and cheap fabrics are everywhere, again. Just looking at the pictures on social media or advertising on tv, the poor quality of the materials is the first thing you notice.

There’s no escape! The imperative of cheap clothing, accessible products that give the illusion of richness, is still very strong.

Fashion industry in 2022


Likewise, fashion companies have set up no measures to reduce the impact on the environment. Also, considering working conditions, we are far from giving workers decent wages.

From luxury brands to fast fashion, the rules are almost the same. And the difference between one or the other segment is just a matter of spending power. By the way, fashion is in the hands of finance, big groups pursuing perpetual growth. Therefore, overproduction which in turn fosters overconsumption. And, this toxic practice is always at the heart of the fashion business.
The industry is immersed in a consumerist culture exploiting people and the planet without no understanding of the scale of destruction it carries around. And no will to change.

2022, has been another tough year in fashion. In fact, throughout the year, we wrote a lot about the need for a different way of operating the fashion business, but perhaps it was naive to expect it for real.

Nevertheless, we’ll continue working in fashion, focusing on quality, good design and uniqueness—prioritising what truly matters, and always in limited quantities.

#formodernhumans

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