Nick Gillett: Greenwashing – are you looking a little grubby?

By Nick Gillett

Published: 03 October, 2022

‘Net Zero’, ‘Carbon reduction’, ‘Sustainability’, and ‘Offsetting’ – all good stuff and we’re now used to bandying these terms around like they’re going out of fashion. But whilst brands are waxing lyrical about their green credentials and how they’re busy saving the planet, how many actually are?

Whether intentionally or not, more than a few drinks brands at best ‘polishing’ their green credentials to look better than they are – and some are just lying. Beyond misleading conscious consumers and reaping undeserved competitive advantages, it pisses me off, because it’s actively halting the industry’s Net Zero progress which is where we should be placing our focus.

The dangers of offsetting

I absolutely get that carbon offsetting to counteract less sustainable practices that already exist within your business is generally better than doing nothing. But it in no way should it justify you shouting about your prowess in carbon reduction or labelling yourself a sustainable business. Greenpeace actually goes as far as to say that offsetting plans, generally speaking, are PR plans; good news stories that businesses use to make themselves more appealing to conscious consumers.

Trees are good. Of course they are, but not all trees are equal. The focus should be on planting diverse, authentic woodland as opposed to millions of conifers. And they’re a mid-term plan, taking years to mature sufficiently to actually capture enough CO2 to negate your footprint. To state the blindingly obvious, planting trees doesn’t actually help the variety of damaging processes our industry practices – processes like chemical waste, high water consumption in manufacturing, or plastic creation and circulation in packaging.

It’s also not a long-term solution, because we don’t have enough land on this planet to actually offset the amount of carbon we’re generating against the growth rate of both populations and industries.

So, please let’s not let the sticking plaster of ‘carbon offsetting’ stop us all from focusing on authentic, honest examination of how we can help the planet. Set up an offsetting scheme and you’ll pay a monthly fee to plant ‘X’ amount of trees. But then you forget about examining those other issues.

Our experience of truly sustainable drinks businesses is that they have a holistic understanding of their impact on the environment and do whatever they can to alter all their processes for cleaner, greener outputs. In my mind, these are the businesses who deserve the custom of the conscious consumer.

It’s not about sales – it’s about doing things right

Whilst I believe we have a long, long way to go, it’s not all doom and gloom. Look at the recent news of Patagonia – one of the world’s first sustainable manufacturers – donating its whole company to a trust which will continue to combat climate change.

There are pioneers within our own industry, too. Companies like Two Drifters and our very own Avallen are doing things in the right way. Sustainability is built into their very soul… as well as their processes, products and logistics, no matter the effort or hassle.

Unfortunately, it’s often the conglomerates of the drinks industry that let us down – the companies who have the power, resources, and money to make a difference. And don’t be fooled by the blusterous greenwashing that escapes their crafty marketing departments. They could change things if they wanted to (or if their shareholders allowed) and are already doing so in response to public outcry when things go wrong – think turtle-friendly six-pack rings and the eradication of plastic multipack casings for cans of beer, for example.

The point is, businesses need to actually care about environmental issues to make a difference. Quick-win projects that don’t actually achieve long-term progression are essentially worthless and shouldn’t merit a marketing campaign to shout about it.

So, what’s reasonable to expect?

In 2019, drinking a pint of beer was the equivalent to driving your car 2.5km. A scary statistic. We’re not all going to be able to operate carbon neutrally, just like that. At this point that’s still a pipe dream. So, what is a reasonable expectation within our industry?

One word – honesty.

Each business should be providing a truthful representation of what they’re doing to combat climate change. Sustainability shouldn’t come under marketing – it should be a consideration in its own right – something that businesses revisit each year to examine how they can improve upon the previous year. And if you do something exemplary to make your business more climate-considerate – yes, you can shout about it. But if you’re making exaggerated claims for competitive advantage, ZIP IT.

How do we change things?

You may have read my thoughts on red tape strangling the drinks industry. But believe it or not, I believe this is one area where we’re severely underregulated.

Governments and the powers at be are very quick to legislate where there are opportunities to increase duties, but slow to regulate or tax those who rely on damaging practices to increase profits. Creating legal incentives and deterrents may go a long way to convincing big businesses in particular, to develop a deeper environmental conscience.

Russ Wakeham, founder of Two Drifters Rum (and a stellar example of a founder who successfully embeds sustainability into his business) said of the current legislative state of play:

“Polluters’ tax currently stands around €80 per ton of CO2 produced. A rough cost to extract this amount permanently from the environment would be around €800 per ton, so if businesses were forced to extract the amount of CO2, rather than just pay a pollution tax, then maybe the powers at be would be more incentivised to change their processes and build in true sustainable practices.”

As consumers, we can hold brands accountable. We can investigate brand and product claims regarding sustainability, and ask, are brands truly examining their recyclable packaging options, being efficient with their water, improving their chemical waste and manufacturing their products using sustainable, planet-friendly methods? The more of us who enforce this accountability, the more likely big brands are going to sit up and listen.

The takeaway here isn’t that we all need to be carbon-neutral, now – more that we need to start truly caring about how our industry, and our businesses, affect the planet.

You may not even realise you’ve been greenwashing. Shouting about your offsetting activity or the fact that you now have ‘biodegradable’ packaging that dissolves completely in the space of 200 years…if you’re guilty, stop it. Take the efforts you’ve previously put into marketing those meaningless gains, and instead refocus them into actually enacting change within your business.

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