Literature Review:

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Greenwashing is a phenomenon that has been quickly growing over the last decades (Vieira et al., 2020), parallel to the increasing awareness of environmental sustainability (Cohen, 2022). Greenwashing has gained plenty of attention from regulators, environmentalists, and consumers in the past decade due to the increased demand for transparency and authenticity (Austin Mac Nab, 2020). The term “greenwashing” was coined by environmentalist Jay Westerveld in the 1980s who, during a hotel stay, came across a hotel policy of reusing towels to save the environment when in reality it was only about saving laundry costs (Nakamura, 2022).

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Leading researchers that contribute to our understanding of greenwashing include Walker et al.’s study (2011) where they examine 100 Canadian firms in “visibly polluting industries” and analyze the financial implications of greenwashing. They found that greenwashing and green talk had a negative effect on the financial performances of the company. Another leading study by Nyilasy (2014) on perceived greenwashing countered the mainstream view that green advertising would increase brand preference. The results show that when a company has poor performance, green advertising leads to “more unfavourable brand attitudes,” contrary to popular belief (Nyilasy, 2014). This study allows for a more complex understanding of the relationship between green advertising and brand attitudes, paving the way for future papers that delve into similar topics.

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The majority of the existing literature available in business on greenwashing prioritizes younger age groups’ green consumption, the motives behind greenwashing, consumer perception, and the ability for consumers to differentiate between greenwashed products/brands and genuinely green products/brands. For example, Babu and Das (2022) broadly cover millennials and GenZ’s perceptions of greenwashing. Their research shows that brands are motivated to greenwash to increase “brand credibility,” meaning higher brand loyalty, consumer trust, reputation, and thus, enhanced sales. They also find no significant relationship between age and consumer perception regarding the use of greenwashing to enhance brand credibility (Babu and Das, 2022).

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Although researchers like Babu and Das (2022) deny the relationship between age and consumer perception to greenwashing, other papers hold varying opinions. For example, in KPMG’s volume three of their Next Gen Retail series, conducted in 2022, and Dhawan (2022), both show younger consumers to be more skeptical towards green claims than older generations and they are consequently more likely to challenge them than the older consumers.

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While some areas of greenwashing are extensively researched, there are research gaps where certain areas remain relatively niche and underexplored. There is a lack of research regarding greenwashing awareness and consumer perception among older generations (Santos et al., 2023). The majority of research relies on age samples of GenZ, millennials, and sometimes GenX, but rarely baby boomers or older ages. Setiawen et al.’s limits his study on greenwashing perception and purchase intention to 17 to 30 years old age segment (2022), Abrouwer (2016) focuses on 16 to 25 years old, and Navarro (2021)  on 23 to 45 years old. According to Reichheld et al (2023), studies tend to target GenZ as they are becoming the biggest purchasing power, estimated to surpass the baby boomers by 2030, making them an impactful age group to study. This paper aims to fill in this gap by additionally analyzing older generations and their awareness towards greenwashing.

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Another research gap in business is how green claims can build a competitive edge and how non-greenwashed companies respond to the green claims by the greenwashing company.  Research in this area can shed light on the positive impacts of greenwashing, allowing for a more nuanced view on the concept of greenwashing instead of the generally negative connotation the media and the majority of sources like Koskela (2023) and the United Nations (2023) hold. This paper aims to fill this gap in the following sections.

 

Key terms, assumptions, definitions:

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Greenwashing:

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According to Hayes et al (2024), greenwashing is defined as “making an unsubstantiated claim to deceive consumers into believing that a company’s products are environmentally friendly or have a greater positive environmental impact than they actually do.” Serim also defines greenwashing similarily: “ the practice of exaggerating or misrepresenting the environmental benefits of a product, service, or corporate practice” (2024). However, even if Koskela (2023) views greenwashing in a negative light, few authors like Frangoul (2023) balance this idea by considering greenwashing as something positive. Dale Vince, the founder of Ecotricity—a renewable energy tycoon—states: 

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“ I take it as a good thing…because 10 years ago, these companies that are greenwashing today, didn’t care… Now they care. They see that they have to do something and so they greenwash. I say that’s progress. I’ve seen it before and it’s not far from them greenwashing to then doing something real” (Frangoul, 2023).  

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Greenwashing is mostly considered to be something negative, an obstacle towards sustainability goals, however it is also evidence of progress of more people being aware of the environment and realizing the importance of sustainability (Frangoul, 2023). 

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Khalifa (2023) describes the “seven sins of greenwashing”as seven guilty corporate strategies. The first one is “the sin of the hidden trade-off” when “a claim that a product is ’green’ is based on a narrow set of attributes, excluding other important issues.” The second one is the “sin of no proof” consisting of an environmental claim having a lack of substantiation by sufficient evidence. Next, “sin of vagueness” relies on poorly defined hence easily misunderstood claims; in “a 2020 EU survey  53% of environmental product claims were vague, misleading, or unfounded” (Khalifa, 2023, pX).

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Then comes the “sin of worshiping false labels”. There is also the “sin of irrelevance” which refers to the use of a claim that is not relevant anymore. The sixth strategy is the sin of lesser of two evils”, which is when a product is made to seem good when in reality the whole product category should be avoided. Finally, the “sin of fibbing” which consists of false environmental claims, such as a greenwashed company claiming to be ENERGY STAR® certified or registered when they are not in reality.

 

Scoping of research topic:

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Why the US:

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The United States has been chosen as the geographic scope for this study because of its diverse consumer base high levels of consumerism, making green marketing campaigns prevalent in this area and thus an adequate location in examining greenwashing success. According to the statistics organized by Zippia, “ a staggering 72% of North American… admit to greenwashing” (Walker, 2024). The abundance of greenwashing in the united states allows sufficient resources and data to analyze the effectiveness and success of greenwashing strategies.

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Why 21’st century as time period:

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The 21’st century has been chosen as the time period for this paper because greenwashing is a relatively new concept that has only emerged in recent decades. Another reason is the proliferation of information in the recent years from digitalization and prevalence of the social network, as through social networks more people are becoming aware of sustainability issues like greenwashing and empowered to become critical and skeptical of those green claims. The consequent heightened awareness has led to increasing social pressure on corporations to be more sustainable, which is why in the 21st century we also see a surge in greenwashing cases——according to Trade Finance Global, greenwashing incidents increased globally by 70% in 2023 (Canup, 2024). Because of this, the 21st century is the ideal time frame given the abundance of knowledge and proliferation of greenwashing cases.

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Method:

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This paper consist of the review of existing literatures from sources ranging from peer-reviewed academic journals (Science direct and The International Journal of Advertising), Professional/industry publications and reports (Harvard Business Review and KPMG), legal sources , to news and business media outlets (Forbes, The guardian, Nasdaq), Corporate and consulting reports (McKinsey) and research sharing platforms like research gate. Given how the time frame is the 21’st century, the sources used are all published in the timeframe 2011 to 2024, ensuring the timeframe of the sources are relevent to this paper. Again, indicating  the focus of this paper on the current discussions regarding greenwashing.

 

Introduction:

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In the past decade, more people  are becomming increasingly aware of the environmental issues surrounding out planet (Calculli et al., 2021). This growing awareness has also led to shifts in consumer behavior (Wood, 2022). According to the World Economic Forum (2022), spending on sustainable brands and products has increased by 24% since 2019, and according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (2024) “over the past five years, there has been a 71% rise in online searches for sustainable goods globally”(Martins, 2024). This shift in consumer behavior and taste is also reflected in the market share of sustainably marketed products. According to the Sustainable Market Share IndexTM by NYU Stern, (2023), products marketed as sustainable now take up 18.5% of the market share, making it 1.2 percentage points high than last year and  4.8 percentage points higher since 2015. This trend in sustainability is growing, and the market for sustainability is predicted to reach USD 134.9 billion by 2030 (MarketsandMarkets, 2024). However, according to Roffe et.al (2024) along with the increased market for sustainability and consumer awareness, greenwashing is also on the rise with coporates marketing more products as “plant-based”, “non-toxic”, “carbon neutral” to capture the growing sustainable market and to remain competitive” (Roffe et al., 2024). According to Trade Finance Global (2024), greenwashing incidents increased  70% globally in 2023 and 68% of US executives have admited to greenwashing in their companies (PECB,2024).

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As consumers are becomming more aware of sustainability issues and greenwashing cases surge as companies try to capture the growing market. An important question is raised: How does the increased level of people awareness on sustainable consumption impact the success or efffectiveness of greenwashing strategies? This question will be addressed in three different aspects. First, the increased level of people awareness on sustainable consumption will challenge greenwashing effectiveness as new generations of buyers are more educated and start to challenge. This is shown through the growing awareness among younger generations, increased skepticism & ability to differentiate by consumers, and the rising demand for verifiable sustainability efforts and regulatory scrunity. Second, despite increased consumer awareness greenwashing can still be effective, especially when it leads to improvements in corporate practices. Some customers are still swayed by companies greenwashing strategies that seem to make an effort despite increased awareness. Though, exaggerated green claims from greenwashing can also encourage companies to make gradual improvements in sustainability measures to meet growing expectations due to increased awareness. Furthermore, greenwashing allows differentiation in competitive markets, this encourages other companies to also be sustainable to maintain relevance and stay competitive. Third, how can we further increase consumer awareness to lessen the effectiveness of greenwashing? This can be done in a few different ways: target older generations, further educate the younger generations, and how the US can learn from other countries or groups that are more aware and challenging of greenwashing.

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I. Increased  consumer awareness on sustainable consumption challenges greenwashing effectiveness as new generations of buyers are more educated and start to challenge

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a) New generation of buyers (the younger generation) are more conscious and aware of sustainability and the environment.

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i. Shift in consumer power:

Babyboomers, born between 1946 and 1964 (Clarke et al. 2024), have been the dominant purchasing power since the 1980s to today (Bump, 2024), accounting for 53% of sellers and 39% of buyers (National Association of Realtors, 2023). But this is subject to change as the dominant purchasing power of babyboomers is now shifting to GenZ— those born between 1997 and 2012 —with the total Gen Z spending predicted to rise sharply once the entire cohort enters the job market to an estimated $12.6 trillion by 2030 (Fengler, 2024; Reichheld et al.,2023). GenZ currently makes up 25% of the global population and has the fastest growth in purchasing power,  predicted to surpass babyboomers by 2029 (NielsenIQ, 2024 ; GfK, 2024; World Data Lab WDL, 2024).

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ii. Awareness among GenZ  

GenZ is not only commonly known as the iGeneration—the digital generation (Montreat College, 2018)—but also as the sustainability generation because of their preference towards environmentally and ethically friendly brands (Marinier, 2023). As the first generation to grow up in the digital environment and always online, GenZs are well informed about the environmental impacts of their choices(Hall, 2024). Contrary to babyboomers, whose purchase behavior is determined from product quality, features, and price (Weinberg, 2020)， determinants of GenZ’s consumption focuses on both the value (price, quality, speed) and values  (corporate action against sustainability/brand actions against social issues) of the brand (Fromm,2023). According to Gomes et al (2023), environmental concerns, future green estimation, and green perceived quality are also main determinants of GenZ’s purchasing decisions.

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GenZ’s awareness on sustainability issues are not only highlight from their expectations from brands, but also in their purchase behavior. According to Reichheld et al. (2023), younger generations are 27% more likley to purchase a product than older generations if they believe the brand is environmentally conscious. In fact, GenZ’s are willing to pay 10% more for environmentally sustainable products and 75% of GenZ’s care more about the sustainability of the product over simply brand names(Marinier, 2023; first insight, 2017). With GenZ being more informed and educated regarding sustainability then any prior generations (PDI Technologies, 2023), they are also hyperconscious of greenwashing (Dhawan, 2023) as they value the transparency and authenticity of the brands (Storozhuk,2024). Consequently, the increased awareness is reflected in the increasingly skepitcal attitude towards products marketed as green (Ravi,2022) which will be further expanded in the following subpoint.

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b) Increased skepticism, ability to differentiate, and challenging of advertising and green claims by companies.

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i. Younger  generations are skeptical and challenge advertising and green claims by companies.

Despite GenZ being most environmentally conscious and seeking of sustainable products than any other generation, they are also the “most on guard for inconsistencies in messaging” (Segel et al., 2023)—or in other words, unsubstantiated green claims more commonly known as greenwashing. As more companies market products as green to gain the favour of growing sustainable market(Roffe et al, 2024), “eighty-eight percent of Gen Z doesn't trust eco-friendly claims and governance (ESG) claims” (Mckinsey, 2022). Consumers are no longer blindly trusting brands vague green claims like “eco-friendly” or “green,” instead they look for sustainability claims and intiatives that are authentic, shared transparently, and backed by evidence (Segel, 2022). The younger generation is more aware and thus also more critical of the authenticity of green marketing claims, with 44% of GenZs no longer considering a brand that “inauthentically partners with a celebrity or influencer to promote their products (Dhawan, 2022).” Not only are younger generations like GenZ more sensitive and skepitcal towards green claims by corporates, they are also unafraid to challenge and cancel brands that do so (Dhawan, 2022). American marketing student Chelsea Commodore demonstrates this in her allegation against H&M regarding their “conscious collection” which was advertised as sustainable and eco friendly. In the official website of H&M, the conscious collection was claimed to be made “with a little extra consideration for the planet,” and how the clothing "contained at least 50 percent more sustainable materials such as organic cotton or recycled polyester” when in reality that was not the case (Marino, 2022). H&M tried to substantiate the claim by joining the higg index —a sustainability index developed by the Sustainable Apparel Coalition—but according to the lawsuit filed by Chelsea Commodore the higg index rating was used deceptivley by H&M as they “ignored the minus sign infront of their index rating”(Marino, 2022). Instead of the official  -20% in water consumption (meaning, consumed 20% more than average), H&M advertised +20% (meaning, consumed 20% less than average). In addition, the plaintiff Chelsea Commodore also pointed out how “several pieces in the  Conscious collection contain up to 100 percent polyester—a material that does not biodegrade and disperses microfibers into the environment (Marino, 2022).” This example reflects how increased awareness of younger generations allow them to not only be more skepitcal of green claims, but also activley finding ways to challenge advertising and verify the authenticity of green claims. And how when they find inauthentic and greenwashed advertising, they are also not afraid to challenge and take action against the brand, greatly decreasing the effectiveness of greenwashing strategies.

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ii. Customers are better able to differentiate between greenwashing and genuine efforts

The increased awareness of greenwashing among the younger generation of consumers (PDI Technologies, 2023) allow them to make informed decisions when purchasing and avoid products that are not environmentally friendly (FRA, 2024). This is proved by Volschenk et al’s (2022) study where they used an 2x2 experimental design to manipulate greenwashing knowledge and greenwashing prescence. The results showed how the more knowledgable consumers are regarding greenwashing allows for an increase in the ability to identify greenwashing in advertisements and differentiate  genuinly green products from greenwashed products (Volschenk et al., 2022). In addition, a categorization theory to test consumers ability to identify greewashing conducted by Fella et al (2024) showed consumers being able to “distinguish green from greenwashed” if they are fully educated and primed. Another study by Halverson (2018) that analyzed the perceptions of 368 participants from all over the U.S showed that once consumers made aware of greenwashing, they were able to identify greenwashed labels as greenwashed (Halverson, 2018). Given this, with the new dominant purchasing power GenZ being hyperconscious about greenwashing (Dhawan, 2022), their consequent heightened ability to identify greenwashed claims makes greenwashing strategies used by corporates no longer as effective as before.

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c) The rising demand for verifiable sustainability efforts and regulatory scrunity

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i. Demand for valid certifications, evidence, and third parties of trust

As consumers are becomming increasingly aware of greenwashing, demand for verifiable sustainability claims are on the rise (IBM, 2020). Especially the younger generation of consumers are demonstrating a clear preference for brands that are high on transparency and authenticity as shown from Reichheld et al (2023), whose survey of 350,000 US customer showed Genz & Millennial customers being 30% more likely to spend more money on a brand and 20% more likely to choose it over its competitor when they rate a brand high on transparency (Reichheld et al., 2023).  According to Mckinsey & Company (2022), consumers are expecting sustainability claims to be shared transprently and substantiated with sufficient data and evidence. According to research conducted on 19,000 consumers by IBM (2020), “79% of consumers state it is important for brands to provide guaranteed authenticity like certifications when they're purchasing goods,” and that “within this group 71 percent are willing to pay 37%  more for companies offering full transparency and traceability”(IBM, 2020). Meaning, instead of vague claims like “natural ingredients” consumers are now looking for verified third party certifications  like B-Corp, Fair Trade, Green Seal, and energy star to provide verifiable proof to the claims (Nakamura, 2023). According to a polling by globeScan (2023), nearly 70 %  of U.S. consumers who recognize the Fairtrade label prefer to shop at retailers that carry certified products and 65 % of U.S. consumers are looking for third-party verified labels from brands (Mazzoni,2024). In addition to third party certifications, consumers are also on the look out for further evidence that supports the authenticity or sustainability of brands. According to Muller et al (2022), “85% of consumers are more likely to buy from a company with a reputation for sustainability than from a neutral company”. Consumers are no longer believing of simple  vague green claims (Mckinsey, 2022), instead they are demanding for verification from certifications, third parties of trust, and details of evidence substantiating said claims. By demanding for the support behind claims, vague green claims by greenwashing brands are no longer as effective in misleading consumers.

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ii. Regulatory scrutiny & Legislations

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The increased awareness of greenwashing among consumers along with the heightened demand for transparency and authenticity have also pressured regulatory bodies to enact stricter legislations, raising the standards regarding sustainability claims and marketing (Freedgood, 2022). In 2021, California introduced Bill AB 1201 which targets misleading labeling by ensuring that an item that claims to be compostable is indeed what it is claimed to be. According to Bill AB 1201, “it also prohibited products that do not meet ASTM standards  to be labeled with the term “biodegradable”, “degradable”, “decomposable,”or in any way imply that the product will break down, fragment, biodegrade, or decompose in a landfill or other environment”(AB 1201). This legislation directly addresses the concerns adressed in the statement by Heidi Sanborn, executive director of the National Stewardship Action Council : "Californians want truth in labeling. Right now these ‘chasing arrow’ labels mean virtually nothing without a sheriff in town"(SaferStates, 2021). Regulatory bodies response to the increased consumer awarness and scrutiny towards greenwashing is also reflected in the recent  Voluntary Carbon Market Disclosures Act (AB 1305) (VCMDA) passed in California in 2023. According to Bernier et al (2023), this new “anti-greenwashing” law is one of the first laws in the US to require public and private entities to provide transparent, publicly available disclorsure about their carbon offset activities. Furthermore, regarding united states as a whole, the US Federal Trade Commision (2022) has also responded to the  growing consumer awareness and scrutiny of greenwashing by updating the Green guides. According to FreedGood (2024), the updated green guides include stricter penalties on brands that continue to use these vague labels without proper substantiation, more evidence required for vague green claims like “carbon neutral,” “non-toxic,” or “recyclable”, and emphasis on the use of life cycle assessments (LCAs) to substantiate environmental claim instead of the immediate impact of the product (Freedgood, 2024). This update in the Green Guide forces brands to use precise language in marketing instead of vague claims that may mislead consumers, and imposed stricter regulation on supporting environmental claims with verifiable and credible evidence (FTC, 2018). With raising standards and regulations regarding greenwashing such as the updates in the green guide or the new californian legislatures, the environmental responsibility of corporates will increase allowing for genuine sustainable improvements and for greenwashing to be less effective and pervasive (Silveira, 2024).

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II. Despite increased consumer awareness, greenwashing can still be effective, especially when it leads to improvements in corporate practices.

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a) Some customers are still swayed by companies greenwashing strategies that seem to make an effort despite increased awareness.

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i. Increased awareness of general environmental knowledge vs. increased awareness of greenwashing

When talking about increased consumer awareness regarding greenwashing sucess, it is important to differentiate what type of consumer awareness that is being dealt with. This is because simply increased awareness regarding general environmental knowledge does not have the same effect as increased awareness about greenwashing specifically (Volschenk, 2022). According to Urbański et al.’s study in 2020, participants who ranked themselves as “high environmentalists” (those who have high environmental knowledge) in comparison to “low” and “moderate environmentalists” still fell into the trap of identifying greenwashed products as sustainable despite being more skeptical than the latter two (Urbański et al., 2020). This shows how being highly aware of “general environmental knowledge” does not aid in the ability to identify greenwashing and greenwashing techniques remain effective (Urbański et al., 2020).  Furthermore, Volschenk et al’s. (2022) 2 × 2 experimental design where greenwashing knowledge and greenwashing presence were manipulated showed how the more “greenwash-knowledgeable” consumers are, not only are they better able to identify greenwashing in advertisements, they are also “ less likely to pay a premium for products with greenwashed advertisements, and the likelihood of purchasing those greenwashed products would decrease”  (Volschenk et al., 2022). In the same experiment, Volschenk et al (2022) also observed how in the other group, consumers who “despite having environmental knowledge, the greenwashed advertisement still succeeded in misleading the respondents” (Volschenk et al., 2022). Again showing that simply being educated and knowledgeable about general environmental knowledge does not heighten the ability to identify greenwashing and decrease the likelihood of purchasing greenwashed products. Only being aware of greenwashing specifically leads to the said effect. This result shows how heightened consuer awareness regarding general environmental knowledge still allows consumers to remain gullible to greenwashing tactics, allowing greenwashing to still be effective.

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ii. Green labels and claims

Despite increased consumer awareness some consumers are still swayed by greenwashing  tactics, and green labels and claims play a role in this persistence (Polonsky et al., 2022). The results of the experiment conducted by polonsky et al (2022) showed how even though vague environmental claims with no factual basis do not have an additive effect over the impact of substantive information (real, verifiable data). When in the absence of such substantive information information, consumers often rely on these vague claims and believe them to be credible despite the lack of actual proof or objective information(Polonsky et al., 2022). Across three experiments, Polonsky et al (2022) found that “meaningless claims”(environmental claims with no factual basis) are still treated by consumers as “credible heuristics that provide valuable information” (Polonsky et al., 2022). This result shows how despite the increasing consumer awareness, vague green claims like “environmentally friendly” or claiming “we care about the environment” is sufficient for some consumers to consider certain greenwashed products as sustainable, especially when in absence of any substantiation to support the claim (Polonsky et al., 2022). Green labels also play a misleading role for motivated consumers, as Ravi (2024) showed that even among consumers who are aware of the harms of greenwashing,  green labels  still have a significant  influence  on  convincing  consumers to consider the brands environmentally friendly even when they are not green (Ravi, 2024) .

 

b) Initially greenwashing companies face severe scrutiny and pressure from the increasingly aware public which pushes corporates to practice genuine sustainability efforts to repair reputation and meet consumer expectation for transparency and authenticity.

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i. Backlash of greenwashing

After being revealed of greenwashing, companies face severe backlash in terms consumer trust, corporate repuation, and financial preformance (Montgomery et al., 2015). According to Nicoleta et al (2024), greenwashing “diminishes green brand trust, leading to a decline in customers purchase intentions” (Nicoleta et al., 2024). Furthermore, Ravi (2022) showed how the majority  of  the  respondents would terminate  their relationship with the organisation if the brand is engaged in greenwashing and how 40.6%  of  the  respondents would stop purchasing a brand guilty of greenwashing (Ravi, 2022). One of the biggest greenwashing scandels is “"Dieselgate" of Volkswagen from the car industry (Atiyeh, 2019). The EPA accused Volkswagen for violating the clean air act by implanting software that recorded lower GHG to cheat emissions  tests, simulatenous to a volkswagen marketing campaign that advertised “low emissions” and “eco-friendly features” (Davison, 2024). According to Davidson (2024), in reality the vehicles actually produced 40 times the amount of nitrogen oxide permitted by US law.  According to Mathiesen  et al, (2015) volkswagen rigged emission tests for eleven million vechicles, making them responsible for “nearly 1 million tonnes of air pollution every year, roughly the same as the UK’s combined emissions for all power stations, vehicles, industry and agriculture (Mathiesen  et al., 2015).” After being revealed of greenwashing, volkswagen’s stock price declined from a high of 253.20 DM earlier the year to its lowest point after the scandal of 92.36 DM on September 27, 2015, accounting for a 60% decline in stock prices in less than a year (Welch, 2019). Volkswagen not only had to face the dropping stock prices, lost in consumer trust, damage to corporate reputation, but also fines and penalties. According to Davison (2024) in 2017, Volkswagen had to pay  $2.8 billion in criminal fine and $1.5 billion in civil penaltiesand in the USA alone. Later in 2019, Volkswagen also faced $125 million penalty in Australia (Davison, 2024). It was later revealed in 2020 that the “Dieselgate” scandel had costed Volkswagen $34.69 billion in total (Davison, 2024).

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ii. Path to genuine sustainable efforts——Volkswagen.

After the Dieselgate scandal, volkswagen formed a sustainability council with goal of turning the company into a “world-leading provider of sustainable mobility” (Kell, 2022). Volkswagen started with decarbonization: shift from diesels to clean e-mobility technology in order to restore brand reputation (Kell, 2022). They also recalled the rigged vehicles and offered a $1,000 goodwill package to its American car owners to restore corporate reputation and regain customer trust, and launched the “Electric for All” campaign where they intend on “releasing 70 electric vechicles over the next decade at affordable prices” (Kell, 2022). Furthermore, according to Welch’s (2019) case study on Volkswagen’s recovery from the 2015 diesel emissions scandal, in order to restore brand credibility the company also launched a “Together – Strategy 2025” plan which  included expanding mobility solutions and  research into autonomous driving (Welch, 2019). For example, volkswagen invested $300 million in ride-hailing application and other autonomous-driving taxi services (Trefis Team, 2016), and even built their own battery facility. By being transparent with those efforts, volkswagen allows consumers to see their change and the significant investment the company is putting in the new strategy (Kell, 2022). Allowing the originally skeptical consumers to see the the genuinity of volkswagens change to true sustainability—— a crucial step in regaining trust. Following the rebranding of volkswagen as an electric vehicle manufacturer, they have become the market leader in the Electric vehicle industry (Kell, 2022). And in just less than a year after the greenwashing scandal, Volksawgen was able to re-emerge as the world’s number one automotive company (Kell, 2022). From this we see how the external pressure and scrutiny greenwashing companies face can lead to genuine sustainable developments as corporates attempt to regain credibility and repare brand reputation.

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c) Greenwashing allows differentiation in competitive markets, this encourages other companies to also be sustainable to maintain relevance and stay competitive.

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Greenwashing can allow companies to differentiate themselves in competitive markets by making themselves seem like a “sustainable corporate” (Crassous, 2012), thus encouraging other businesses to also be sustainable in order to maintain relevance and stay competitive (Delmas, 2011).

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i. Appearing to be sustainable as a differentiating factor

As increased awareness leads to more consumers emphasizing sustainbility in their purchasing decisions (Strailey,2024), the sustainability of a brand or their products has beome a differentiating factor (Jordan Bar Am et al., 2023). According to a McKinsey US consumer sentiment survey (2020), “more than 60 percent of respondents said they’d pay more for a product with sustainable packaging” (McKinsey, 2020). Sustainability Insights (2024) also found how 78% of 18-24-year-olds ranked sustainability as a primary or secondary priority when deciding whether to purchase a product (Strailey, 2024). By demonstrating the weight of sustainability in consumer purchase decisions, it mirrors the effect of simply appearing to be sustainable. In addition, according to Crassous’s (2012) study on the two organizations Jade and Notox, analysis showed that through green branding, implementing eco-labels, and showing their sustainability, Jade and Notox are differentiating—which also gave them a competitive advantage (Crassous, 2012). Greenwashing gives the illusion of a sustainable corporate (UN, 2023), and by doing so, allows greenwashing firms to also hold a competitive advantage as they use sustainability as a differentiating factor (Crassous, 2012). So how do other non-greenwashing firms in the market respond to the sustainability measures by the greenwashing firms?

 

ii. Response by other non-greenwashing corporates

As non-greenwashing firms become aware of the sustainability measures of the greenwashed companies, they are motivated to also become sustainable in order to not fall behind their competitiors or to remain relevent (Delmas, 2011). This is derived from the phenomenon how “organizations tend to model themselves after similar organizations in their industry or field that they perceive to be more legitimate or successful” (Delmas, 2011), and according to Delmas, “research has shown that this applies to the adoption of green practices”. For example, the UBS, who adopted a more progressive policy on climate change after a report showed how the company fell behind its competitors in sustainability measures to mitigate global warming (Gee, 2007).

By leading to more progressive sustainability measures by competitors in the market who try to stay relevent, greenwashing is indirectly allowing for improved corporate practices and genuine sustainable advancements within industries.

 

III. How can we further increase consumer awareness to lessen the effectiveness of greenwashing?

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a) Target older generations; awareness not limited to the younger generation.

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i) Why we should target older generations

Despite the purchasing power shifting to GenZ (Reichheld, 2023), the current biggest purchasing power are Baby Boomers who, despite only taking up 20% of the US population, control 52% of the US’s net wealth (King, 2024) making them a “prime market segment”(Hayes et al., 2022). By targeting this segment and thus increasing awareness of the largest purchasing power age group,  market trends and behavior of corporates could be influenced (Hayes et al., 2022). Given how baby boomers’ are the prime market segment, their spending habits are able to  drive change in business practices as corporates adapt to their preference and values (Basak Yakar, 2021). Thus, if more boomers become aware of greenwashing tactics, so will their demand for greater transparency, integrity, and genuine sustainability efforts from corporates (Groves et al., 2024). Furthermore, as demonstrated in section I, increased awareness of greenwashing increases consumers ability to differentiate between greenwashed and non-greenwashed products, and decreases the likelihood for greenwash-knowledgeable consumers to purchase greenwashed product. Essentially, increased awareness decrease greenwashing success. So, by increasing awareness of older generations like babyboomers, not only are we able to shift business practice towards genuine sustainability but also decrease greenwashing success.

 

ii) How to target older generations

In order to target older generations, it is important to understand which platform they gather information and is the most active on. According to Hoyt (2024), 71% of the older adults in the US use facebook, and the trend of older generations using Facebook will continue. In addition, according to King (2024), a “Forbes Advisor and Talker Research” survey showed google to also be one of the most popular applications used by older generations, with 76% of baby boomers activley using it and 94% of boomers using search engines in general to search for brand names (King, 2024). Since babyboomers primarily use search engines like google to search brand names, a way to increase awareness regarding greenwashing could be using paid search advertising in google that educates the risks of greenwashing and ways to distinguish it; google ads allow targeting by demographics, so it would be useful to create specific advertisement and campaigns targeted to demographics fifty years old and above. Moving on, to target older generations, utilizing medias like facebook that is concentrated with older demographics could be useful in raising awareness in this segment. According to Hoyt (2024), “facebook is the most valuable platform for reaching an older demographics, says many marketers”. And unlike GenZ who prefer taking selfies and share personal informationn (Hamingson, 2024), older users prefer to use the media by sharing articles, photos and videos as opposed to creating them (Hamingson, 2024). Given this, in order to increase awareness among older users through facebook, educational content like infographics, short articles, and engaging videos that educate audiences about greenwashing can be used. In addition, facebook ads targeted to the older generations (50+) to run awareness and educational campaigns on greenwashing, and utilization of key opinion leaders (KOLs) with main audience base of older users to help spread awareness of green washing are also effective ways to increaseg greenwashing awareness among older generations.

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b) How to make younger  generations even more educated

Despite younger consumers being more aware of green washing and sustainability issues than other generations, sustainability messaging only reaches around 50% of consumers age 30 and below (Ruiz, 2024). In order to further decrease the effectivness of greenwashing, it is important to make the younger generations even more educated. Given how younger generations are growing up in the digital age, shifting away from traditional media (Raval, 2019), utilizing social media is a main way to further raise awareness of  greenwashing among the younger audience. According to Pew Research Center (2023), 90% use youtube, 63% use tik tok, 60% use snap chat, and 59% use instagram, making these four platforms a effective medium for targeting younger generations. Within the use of social media, utilization of KOLs—key opinion leaders—could be powerful. According to stack influence (2024),  92% of consumers trust what KOLs recommend and the influencer marketing benchmark report (2019) showed “ 92% of marketers tobelieve influencer marketing as effective in achieving their goals.” Given the influence KOLs hold over consumers, collaboration with them to educate and enhance awareness among their audience about green washing would be useful. Moving on, social media campaigns can be used to raise awareness of greenwashing. According to Pew Research Center (2020), “eighty percent of americans say social media platforms are very (31%) or somewhat (49%) effective for raising public awareness about political or social issues.” By using social media campains and KOLs on main social media platforms dominated by the younger generations, awareness of greenwashing could be further raised among them.

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c) What are some other countries/groups that are more aware/challenging of greenwashing, and how can the US learn from them?

The European Union stands out in their efforts to combat greenwashing and also general consumer awareness regarding the issue (Van, 2024). The US can learn from the EU’s stricter regulations and policies regarding green labels, green claims, and consumer protection against greenwashing. The EU has a more comprehensive and stricter regulation on greenwashing. For example, the EU Taxonomy Regulation (2020) provides a  framework that sets up a specific criteria for “environmentally sustainable activities”, providing clear guidelines on how environmental claims can be shared. In addition, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) allows for heightened transparency by requiring companies to provide regular report on their ESG aspects in a standardized format, leading to more reliability in corporate’s sustainability claims. The EU recently also included a ban of climate-neutral claims (2023), further strengthening reguations against vague, misleading green claims used in greenwashing (Kurmaye, 2023). The EU also has harsher consequences for greenwashing firms, according to the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill (2023), greenwashing companies will face “up to tens of millions of pounds” for unsubstantiated environmental claims (FT Advisor, 2023). The EU is also constantly upgrading their regulations against greenwashing, as demonstrated by  "Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition" directive that came into effect march of 2024. With the main purpose of protecting consumers from misleading green claims, this directive required relevant and clear substantiation for green claims and fully banned false and misleading green claims (Sidley, 2024).  While the US has the FTC green guides, which are a series of guidance and principles about green marketing that help marketers avoid greenwashing (FTC, 2018), it is not as sufficient and comprehensive as the EU. For example, the green guides are only advisory and don’t carry the force of law, do not preempt state law which leads to ambiguity, and does not detail on how to substantiate “aspirational green claims.” In addition, according to the green guides, deceptive green claims in the US only leads to penalties of up to $50,120 per violation (Kertscher, 2023), while penalities for misleading green claims in the EU has a minimum of 4% of the company's total annual revenue (Foley, 2024). In general, the EU has stricter penalities and a more comprehensive set of regulations that combat greenwashing than the US. In order to further lessen the effectiveness of green washing, the US can learn from their european counterparts and enforce harsher penalties and stricter regulations that are more detailed and allow for increased transparency of corporates.

 

Conclusion:

 In conclusion, increased consumer awareness of greenwashing challenges the effectiveness of greenwashing strategies as consumer power shifts to younger generations who are  more educated and conscious of greenwashing. This increased awareness allows consumers to be better able to identify greenwashing and become more skepitcal and challenging of green claims and advertisements. However, it is also noted that greenwashing is not necessarily bad and can lead to positive effects. Greenwashing corporates who get exposed often face reputational and financial damage, this alongside the rising consumer expectations forces greenwashing corporates to adopt genuine sustainability practices. Greenwashing also allows companies to gain a competitive advantage, this forces other non greenwashing firms in the industry to also become sustainable in order to remain relevent and competitive. By doing so, greenwashing is indirectly allowing for positive sustainable deveopments. But despite increased awareness, it is also noted that greenwashing still remains effective in certain cases as green claims and labels still hold power when substantiation is absent. How increased awareness of general environmental knowledge is not sufficient to decrease greenwashing success, only awareness of greenwashing specifically does. In order to further diminish the impact of greenwashing in the US, it is important to broaden awareness beyond younger generations through targeting older demographics and learn from other countries that have a more effective approach to combating greenwashing.

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