This section of three chapters considers how Remaking Sustainability also means ‘retelling sustainability’. Greenwashing—long tolerated in an era of voluntary and loosely defined sustainability—can no longer survive as sustainability becomes measurable, enforceable, and embedded in financial, regulatory, and trade systems. Greenwashing is not merely a reputational issue but a systemic distortion that misallocates capital, misleads consumers, slows genuine progress, and deepens public scepticism. As data quality improves and definitions of materiality tighten, unsubstantiated claims are increasingly exposed through regulation, investor scrutiny, value-chain transparency, and legal challenges. Global enforcement is accelerating, from the UK’s anti-greenwashing powers and the FCA’s new rule, to France’s ban on unproven “carbon-neutral” claims and Dutch and Norwegian actions against misleading marketing. Firms often greenwash because of competitive pressure, capability gaps, and internal misalignment, but the practice is becoming strategically unsustainable. As sustainability shifts from signalling to evidence, greenwashing transforms from a marketing tactic into a material liability.

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Hanging Out the Greenwashing

  • John Morrison

摘要

This section of three chapters considers how Remaking Sustainability also means ‘retelling sustainability’. Greenwashing—long tolerated in an era of voluntary and loosely defined sustainability—can no longer survive as sustainability becomes measurable, enforceable, and embedded in financial, regulatory, and trade systems. Greenwashing is not merely a reputational issue but a systemic distortion that misallocates capital, misleads consumers, slows genuine progress, and deepens public scepticism. As data quality improves and definitions of materiality tighten, unsubstantiated claims are increasingly exposed through regulation, investor scrutiny, value-chain transparency, and legal challenges. Global enforcement is accelerating, from the UK’s anti-greenwashing powers and the FCA’s new rule, to France’s ban on unproven “carbon-neutral” claims and Dutch and Norwegian actions against misleading marketing. Firms often greenwash because of competitive pressure, capability gaps, and internal misalignment, but the practice is becoming strategically unsustainable. As sustainability shifts from signalling to evidence, greenwashing transforms from a marketing tactic into a material liability.