How to Avoid Greenwashing in Heavy Industry in 2025
The term greenwashing has worked its way into, and is now commonplace within, business vernacular. In fact, as usual, curiosity got the better of me and I had to check out just how long the phrase has been circling boardrooms. It turns out it was coined way back in the 80s!
The term “greenwashing” was coined by New York environmentalist Jay Westerveld in a 1986 essay about the hotel industry’s practice of placing notices in bedrooms promoting the reuse of towels to “save the environment”.
With more stringent regulation, consumer pressures and various (however reachable or indeed unreachable) net zero goals to contend with, greenwashing, the deceptive marketing of products or services as environmentally friendly when they are not, can severely damage a company’s reputation. Consumers and stakeholders are increasingly discerning, and disingenuous claims can lead to boycotts, legal challenges, and eroded trust.
When it comes to energy hungry businesses, it’s important to have a strategy on how you’re going to celebrate your sustainable efforts. Without being deceptive to avoid greenwashing and build genuine sustainable storytelling into your comms.
Focusing on Measurable Actions and Ditching Offsetting
Instead of vague claims like “eco-friendly,” try to quantify your sustainability efforts. For example, “We reduced carbon emissions by 15% in 2024”. We’re also advising the against the overuse of offsetting in both your carbon accounting and your comms.
Offsetting has become a little old hat and for some people, is at the core of greenwashing! Criticisms of both the activity and use of the terminology include offsetting taking decades to be effectual. For example, for a newly planted tree to capture the amount of CO2 that a carbon offset scheme promises, it can take years, while the company creates more CO2 in that time. Then there’s lack of evidence of effectiveness, the ongoing need to protect and measure your offsetting activities, and the potential human error and data leakage that’s inherent to longstanding projects, spanning years.
Instead of carbon offsetting, the The Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) suggests that companies should prioritise just not using as much as carbon in the first place. Plus, to consider existing solutions like renewable energy, nature-based projects and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, phasing out fossil fuel production, and reviewing company transport.
Avoiding Sustainability Jargon
Avoid using misleading terms like “green gains” or “sustainable development” without clear definitions and supporting evidence. Companies in heavy industry must endeavour to emphasise concrete actions they’ve taken or intend to take to reduce environmental impact rather than marketing buzzwords.
It’s tough to avoid the jargon when you see things like Google Trends data indicating the uplift in searches for broad, vague and sometimes unhelpful buzzwords. The temptation is to flood your content and site with words you know consumers are searching for. But, as is always the case with B2B marketing in heavy industry, it’s quality over quantity when it comes to users to site!
Continue to aim for long tail keywords that are relevant to your target audiences and personas. The only thing you’ll receive if ranking for broader sustainable terms is inflated vanity metrics, an increase in bounce rate and a decrease in onsite engagement and conversion percentages.
Being Transparent and Honest
Don’t be afraid to discuss the challenges you’ve faced in your sustainability journey. Share your progress, setbacks, and areas for improvement. Trust is always derived from candour, in life and in business.
It would look more fishy for any business in heavy industry to have fully sustainable business operations with no set-backs, no hiccups and no bumps in the road. Acknowledging areas for improvement and demonstrating a commitment to continuous improvement is what engages your audience, galvanises relationships and ultimately, gives you a good sustainable story to tell!
Prioritising Action
Focus on implementing genuine, impactful sustainability initiatives rather than solely focusing on the optics around them. Sharing case studies is a great way to showcase specific examples of how sustainability initiatives have been implemented and the positive impact they’ve had in your business. If you don’t have a case study section on site, you can always use your news or blog section. I do recommend, though, that your start to build out your sustainable narrative for the business and show your customers that greening your operations is core to your future business strategy by dedicating an entire section to these activities on your website and showcasing that in your main nav.
Incorporating data visualisations, infographics, and photos to illustrate sustainability efforts is always a great opportunity to share your results in a clear and engaging way. Finally, showcasing how employees are contributing to sustainability goals fosters a sense of ownership and pride.
We’re always interested in finding out how we can support any businesses in heavy industry with their sustainable storytelling. Contact us today to find out how your eco-narrative can be crafted with your brand, your story, and your audience in mind.
And keep an eye out for part two in this series: How not to ‘Greenhush‘ is coming next month!