GREENWASHING IN CANADIAN FIRMS: AN ASSESSMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CLAIMSGREENWASHING IN CANADIAN FIRMS: AN ASSESSMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CLAIMS

Abstract

Canadians are becoming increasingly concerned about the environmental performance of firms, and are also seeking the environmental information on consumer products. Consequently, almost every Canadian firm takes the ‘environment’ topic as hot to its marketing policies and promoting ‘greenness’ to benefit from self-declared environmental claims. However, many firms advertise the eco-friendly practices hiding their real activities; the practice called greenwashing, which causes the stakeholders to doubt the sincerity of green marketing of all firms. Therefore, the environmental claims must be verifiable if consumers and other stakeholders are to understand the value of the environmental information the companies highlight. The primary purpose of this paper is to find out how and why the Canadian companies practice greenwashing. Secondly, to identify the stakeholders who demand the environmental information relating to the product’s entire lifecycle and can examine the attributes of environmental claim to recognize greenwashers. Using the “Seven Sins of Greenwashing” model, Canadian Standard Association guidelines, and world best practices, we examined, in a sample of consumer products with the self-declared environmental claim, whether the claim might be false, misleading and deceptive or accurate, meaningful, and reliable. We found a considerable amount of greenwashing attributes in environmental claims by Canadian firms.