Products claiming to save the planet line the shelves. Eco. Sustainable. Carbon neutral. Ethically made. Greenwash, greenwash, everywhere.
Look closer. Behind those claims is a troubling lack of transparency, consistency, and plain old common sense.
The UK Competition and Markets Authority found 40% of online green claims could be greenwashing (source). The EU Commission found exactly the same thing when they checked 42% of green claims they found were misleading (source).
It’s not one company. It’s not even just junk marketing. Nearly half of green claims by companies are misleading, either by accident or designed to intentionally deceive customers who care about environmental impact.
When you’re faced with rows of ‘green’ cleaning products, it doesn’t feel like that. How are you supposed to know which words are meaningful and which ones are BS? Do you stick to recycled paper goods? Buy only organic everything? Avoid any products with plastic packaging like the plague? Or just chuck it all and go back to Planet Slayer crunching munchkins in a plastic wrapper?
Probably not the last one.
Here’s everything you need to know about why it feels so difficult and how to make sure you’re actually supporting progress instead of just corporate bottom lines masquerading as do-gooders.
We’ll cover:
## How To Tell If Environmental Claims Are Legitimate
The biggest problem with sorting through environmental claims is that a lot of companies aren’t playing with a full deck. They make ambitious claims that sound great but either don’t amount to much or are outright lies.
It makes you wonder how they can get away with it, and the answer is that there are new standards coming in October 2025, but right now it’s still the wild west.
The criteria companies should meet to make legitimate environmental claims are straightforward when you look at them one at a time. The problem is that marketing departments have learned to game the system by using these terms without actually implementing them.
Here’s what you need to know about each of the key greenwashing terms to spot genuine improvements:
Lifecycle Assessment (LCA)
Carbon emissions. Resource use. Waste. Pollution. Impact on ecosystems.
These things can be measured across the lifecycle of any product. Lifecycle assessment is the gold standard of environmental impact measurement. When you see a product make an environmental claim, ask where in the lifecycle it applies, what the specific measurement is compared to their prior product or compared to other products in the category, and who verified it.
The only legitimate blanket environmental claim is “this product has a lower lifecycle impact than our previous version.” Every other claim should be able to specify what they improved, by how much, and where.
Carbon Accounting and Offsetting
How much carbon dioxide do you really produce?
Again, there’s nothing magic here. To legitimately claim carbon neutral, a company must first measure their emissions, then reduce those emissions as much as possible, and finally offset their remaining emissions through verified carbon offset schemes.
Look for verifiable impact. Has this company been verified by a third party to have planted this exact number of trees? It doesn’t matter if those trees are somewhere else, or if planting trees isn’t the best climate solution right now (hint: it is). Offset schemes should always tie to a permanent, measurable, and verified impact.
Carbon offset purchases are the easiest greenwashing scams because they require no changes to your business. A website form, a cheque, and suddenly you’ve bought your way to carbon neutrality.
Offsetting isn’t evil and it’s not the only solution, but it should be the last step after you’ve measured and reduced. Anything else is BS.
Circular Economy Metrics
How much stuff do you use, and what happens to it when you don’t use it anymore?
Products don’t exist in a vacuum. Claims about circularity, waste reduction, or using recycled materials are only meaningful when put in context of the total product. If it’s part of a take-back programme where every packaging component can be recovered and reused, that’s great. If they just switched to recycled glass bottles while everything else remained the same, it’s a bit less impressive.
Biodegradability Standards
Biodegradable. Compostable. Two related but subtly different concepts that both have very specific definitions.
Remember what we said about lifecycle assessment? With few exceptions, nothing in this world instantly turns into magical forest dirt when it’s supposed to. Whether it’s bacteria in your home compost pile or an industrial composting facility, certified compostable products need time and specific conditions to break down. Claims about products being “environmentally friendly because they biodegrade” should be fairly closely examined.
The specifics of biodegradability claims are important: under what conditions does this break down? If it’s “commercial compostable” how readily available are commercial composting facilities in your area? Would this realistically end up in one anyway, or is it more likely to end up in a landfill?
Summary
Hopefully just knowing what to look for will help you spot greenwashing. If not, here’s a handy primer on spotting the tricks they use.
## How To Spot Greenwashing
It’s easy to call BS when someone tries to sell you something, but worthwhile claims get buried under a mountain of nonsense.
You want to buy genuinely better products and support companies that are making a real effort to improve their environmental impact. That’s why this guide is here.
The most effective greenwashing isn’t lying. It’s obscuring the truth with junk claims that take your eye off the things that matter.
Look for products that make specific claims about what they do better and can provide evidence for it. Product A uses less carbon to produce? Great, show me their lifecycle analysis that proves it. Product B uses post-consumer plastic? Tell me what percentage and provide a link to your certificate.
Real change is happening. Are you sure this company is part of it, or do they just like the sound of their green marketing materials?
Selective Focus
The company advertises one small environmental credential while ignoring much bigger problems.
‘This packet of crisps is now made with renewable energy!’ may be completely true, but if the potatoes are still farmed using intensive agriculture, shipped halfway across the world, and wrapped in non-recyclable packaging the actual environmental impact remains nearly the same.
Keeping your eye on the forest rather than getting lost in the trees can help you see through claims that try to focus on small improvements rather than taking responsibility for the full lifecycle of their products.
Baseline Manipulation
“30% more sustainable!” But more sustainable than what?
There’s no context for what this improvement means. Is it 30% more sustainable than the industry average? Their own previous product? Than we take trees and burn them?
Look for legitimate claims of improvement to ask where they’re comparing themselves. The worst offenders are companies that create their own baseline to measure from. If nobody else is claiming to be “most sustainable sunscreen worldwide!” great job dodging comparison to the leaders in your field.
Certification Shopping
Not all badges are created equal.
The biggest lesson here is to learn which certifications to actually trust. Look for third-party certifications with transparent certification standards and regular independent auditing. Certifications run by trade associations or corporations themselves are almost never worth trusting.
Conservation via Timing
‘We’ll be net zero by 2050!’ But what are you doing right now to achieve that?
Carbon offsets are the biggest culprits here because they allow companies to promise net zero emissions several decades from now without making any real changes in the present.
Great, you’ll be net zero by the time I retire. What are your emissions today and how are you reducing them?
If they can provide a detailed plan for how they’re getting there with verified interim targets, that’s fantastic.
Otherwise it’s just futzing around while you pretend to do something about it.
Technically Accurate Bullshit
Perhaps the most toxic form of greenwashing is the claim that could get sued for false advertising but somehow just manages to avoid it by being technically correct.
‘Made with recycled materials!’ is greenwashing if there’s no proof. When everything in the world is made of materials, every product can say that.
How much? Where from? Who certified it? If they can’t answer these questions, they’re not actually using recycled materials.
Pick Your Own Mistake
Cherry picking is the act of focusing on one environmental metric where you perform well while ignoring contexts where you don’t.
Company X uses organic cotton? That’s fantastic, but what about the hundred miles it travels by air freight to reach you? And what about all the water it took to grow that cotton?
Rewilding half their farming land is incredible for biodiversity, but does nothing for carbon if they’re transporting everything overseas.
Find out the whole story. One good thing doesn’t make a useless product useful.
## Quick Tips: Phrases That Are Trying To Greenwash You
Knowing how to spot BS isn’t much help if you don’t know where to look. The easiest greenwashing comes from vague claims that provide no information about where, how, or how much something is better for the environment.
Not everything green and leafy is good for the planet. Here are the easiest things to spot from a mile away.
Vague, Meaningless Absolutes
Eco-friendly. Natural. Green. Sustainable.
Any of these words by themselves are meaningless without context. Eco-friendly compared to what? Natural according to what standard? Sustainable how?
There’s no regulatory definition for these words in most contexts. Which means they can be used however a company wants.
If the only environmental claim is some variation of these four words, look elsewhere.
Nature Doesn’t Always Mean Better
Nothing is environmentally friendly about pouring bleach all over the place.
Natural is not a synonym for ‘good for the environment.’ Lead is natural. Arsenic is natural. Just because your muscle wash is ‘all natural ingredients’ doesn’t mean it’s better for the planet.
Pretty Packaging
Want to know if packaging is environmentally friendly? Pick it up.
If it’s cardboard, recycled plastic, or bamboo, that’s great! But don’t fall for the pitfall of thinking everything that “looks” eco-friendly is better for the planet.
Much like “natural” doesn’t always mean good, “green” doesn’t always mean environmentally friendly.
A package that’s the right size for the product, made from sustainable materials, and is recyclable is better than one that’s made from plastic and fillers, and uses half the package for advertising.
No Proof
“We use less plastic!” Great, how much?
Reduce emissions by how much? Plant how many trees? Use what percentage of recycled material?
Any environmental claim should be backed up by numbers. If they’re proud of their environmental performance, they should have no problem telling you exactly how much they’ve improved.
Single Superpower
It’s great if your laundry detergent is Plant-Based Warrior Bear and helps save the planet while washing your clothes, but what about the rest of the bottle?
Does it clean effectively? How much packaging does it use? Where does it come from?
Too much focus on one environmental claim often comes at the expense of the rest of the product. Detergent that’s plant-based is fantastic, but if it needs to be run three times to get your clothes clean then we’ve exchanged one problem for another.
False Dilemma
“This is the only ethical option!”
When companies claim that you’re automatically destroying the planet if you buy anything other than their product, they’re doing exactly that. Manipulating you into buying what they want you to buy.
Just because your paper bag option is “worse” than bringing your own bag doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have one. Disposable cup tax starts here.
There are always trade-offs to every decision. A truly sustainable company will be upfront about what they do well and where they still have room to improve.
## Digging Deeper: Recycling Claims Are Lies
Recycling.
Look ma, no planet!
Wait, wrong yelling.
Let’s talk about recycling, since every other form of environmental greenwashing is relative child’s play compared to the completely disconnected nature of ‘recyclable packaging.’
What “recyclable” really means:
A recyclable package may actually be recyclable by your council. All packaging materials have different recycling rates depending on UK recycling infrastructure.
80% of plastic packaging thrown away by households in the UK was recycled in 2024 (source). Paper and cardboard achieved a 74.3% recycling rate in 2024 (source). Both glass and metal packaging recycled at below 70% in 2024 (source). Overall packaging waste recycling was 64.1% in 2024 (source).
Again, this doesn’t mean recyclable packaging isn’t recycled. It means that for every 10 packages thrown in the recycling bin, around three to four of them won’t get recycled.
Let’s up the complexity level.
‘Recyclable’ in your home village might not be recyclable in Birmingham. Packaging with multiple components might be ‘recyclable’ if you separate before recycling. Items contaminated with food waste might not be recycled despite technically ‘acceptable.’
Recyclability doesn’t mean it’ll be recycled.
Recyclability means it has the potential to be recycled.
Under perfect conditions, with no contamination, correct separation and every council offering the same recycling standards (they don’t, by the way. Plastics film is recyclable in some council’s ‘recycling’ bins but not others).
Which products are really worth recycling?
Whether something is worth recycling comes down to two big questions.
How much energy and carbon does it take to produce this from scratch? How long will this product last?
If it takes five years to manufacture a plastic widget from recycled plastic versus one month to produce it from new plastic, that’s a hidden environmental impact not mentioned in the marketing.
Likewise, a durable item packaged in non-recyclable materials will create less environmental impact over time compared to a fragile product in recycled packaging.
At the end of the day, it shouldn’t matter if your packaging is recyclable if you’re just buying a new one whenever you lose or break the first. There needs to be better education around what recyclable actually means. Or better yet, governments and companies should stop using it.
Extended Producer Responsibility is an upcoming scheme set to launch October 2025 (source) where producers are financially responsible for the full lifecycle of their packaging.
Guess how much it’s going to cost industry… £2bn (source). But at least now we might see real improvements to recycling rates rather than just claims.
When in doubt, ask them three questions to help evaluate their recycling claims.
recyclable where? Not all councils accept the same things. What conditions are required for their packaging to be recycled?
recycled how often? Can the materials actually be recycled infinitely, or will they degrade in quality every time? Once materials can no longer be recycled, they’ll now be added to waste stats.
what proof do they have that this is actually being recycled? Aside from “put it in the recycling bin!” most consumers have no way of knowing if something is actually being recycled. Hopefully EPR changes that.
## Common Mistakes
Look, no one’s perfect and we all fall for junk marketing from time to time. I’m sure that includes even the most hardened eco-warriors reading this.
Here are the most common greenwashing mistakes with tips to help you stop making them.
Mistake #1: Organic Doesn’t Always Mean Better
Organic is great for the soil and avoiding pesticides. Beyond that, it’s far from clear cut that organic agriculture is better for the environment.
Organic production is more land-intensive than conventional farming. That means more land use change emissions where forests, grassland or other carbon storing ecosystems are converted to agriculture.
It doesn’t improve other environmental impacts of food like transportation, packaging, or food waste.
If you want organic for pesticide avoidance or soil health reasons, there’s nothing wrong with buying organic. Just know that it doesn’t automatically make something better for the environment.
Mistake #2: Don’t Believe Carbon Neutral Claims Without Proof
Carbon neutral means a company has zero carbon emissions.
Doesn’t mean they’ve reduced emissions to zero. Many companies claim carbon neutral through carbon offset purchases.
Not all offsets are created equal, especially when it comes to verified impact. Sadly carbon offsets are the biggest greenwashing scam of our time.
Look for companies who will at least tell you what their actual emissions are and make an effort to reduce those before buying offsets.
Mistake #3: Packaging Isn’t Where You Should Focus
When you’re comparing two products that perform roughly the same, sure, packaging matters. But focusing only on packaging is shortsighted.
What about how the product is made? Where it comes from? How long it will last you compared to other alternatives?
A single-use product with amazing packaging may be less sustainable overall than a durable item in ‘blokey’ packaging.
Mistake #4: Treat The Entire Company As You Would An Individual
You wouldn’t trust someone who screwed up your life just because they donated to charity, would you?
Hell no! They can keep their cheap, meaningless insurance donation and go away.
Apply the same standards to companies. A pesticide company planting trees doesn’t make them worthy of your hard earned cash if they’re still selling death sprinklers.
Company-wide sustainability improvements are great. Is this the best they can do? Or are they continuing harmful practices elsewhere?
Mistake #5: Just Because It Costs More Doesn’t Mean It’s Better
There’s a reason most eco-friendly products cost more. Often that reason is simple: environmentally friendlier options do cost more.
But not always!
Sometimes sustainable products cost less as part of the business. Sometimes companies charge more for exactly the same product just because it’s green.
Look at the full lifecycle. Does it really cost more to produce? Do you use less because it’s more effective and therefore costs you less over time?
Remember, just because someone slaps a price tag on something doesn’t mean it’s automatically more expensive to produce.
Mistake #6: Future Goals Are Not The Same Thing As Current Impact
Amazing news! Company X is going to be totally carbon neutral by 2050!
Right now they produce 500,000 tonnes of carbon emissions every year.
The only thing they’ve done to improve their environmental performance is put out a press release promising to do better tomorrow.
Congrats, your kids’ kids will grow up thanks to you.
Environmental improvement happens in the present.
Offset purchases? Nice! Now show me how you’re actually reducing emissions before you buy your way out.
Green pledges for the future are great if they come with real proof that they’re taking action now.
## Sources
The data mentioned above regarding misleading green claims comes from two regulatory sources.
40% of green claims online could be greenwashing, says CMA
The global study by the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network (ICPEN) found that consumers around the world looking for green products online could easily be misled by rubbish claims.
EU Commission Study on Green Claims
In the second phase of its study on green claims – carried out by its Verification for Green Claims initiative (VERIGON) – assessed 7 243 environmental claims found online selling green products in the EU.
IP_21_269 Final Report Study on Environmental Claims. European Commission
Both studies examined thousands of environmental claims from companies across a range of industries. They were not performed by academics using strict methodologies, they were investigations by regulatory agencies that found similar proportions of green claims were misleading using the standards each agency enforces.
Consumer rights group Which? also conducted a study into green claims reviewing >20,000 online product listings. Linklaters breaks down the results.
As a result of these studies, regulatory bodies have created a Green Claims Code companies are supposed to follow when marketing products.
Green Claims Code: Making environmental claims
The problem is enforcement. While certain egregious violations may receive fines from the CMA once a company is reported, there’s currently no way for consumers to find out which companies aren’t playing by the rules.
This is partially going to change with the introduction of the UK’s EPR scheme.
## Apply This To Everything
As you can see from the section on recycling, just because something says it’s environmentally friendly doesn’t mean it actually is.
These guidelines can be applied to any consumer product you buy. Not just food, cleaning products, clothing, and other typical green purchase categories.
Because at the end of the day isn’t everything we buy kind of ‘greenwashing’ environmental harm?
Look at your priorities when shopping and apply the same criteria everywhere.
Food and Drink: Specific certifications and clear labelling over vague ‘sustainability’ claims. Organic? Where from? How much packaging? How far did it travel?
Cleaning Products: Ingredient transparency and concentration matter more than package aesthetics. Fewer ingredients? Fewer questions.
Clothing: Specific material claims are more meaningful than broad ‘eco-friendly fashion’ statements. What % recycled? How far was it shipped? Will it last me a long time?
Personal Care: Avoid ‘natural’ products where possible and look for ingredient transparency. Simpler formulations mean fewer impacts and less need for ‘environmentally friendly’ marketing.
Home: Durable stuff that lasts longer is better for the planet than pretty things that will be replaced. Pay attention to repairs, upgrades, and how long things last.
Electronics: Energy efficiency ratings and repairability over aesthetics. Environment impact of electronics comes overwhelmingly from production emissions and resource extraction, not packaging.
## You’ll Also…
Avoid payming extra for marketing departments.
Spotting greenwashing isn’t just about avoiding deception. When you know what to look for you start seeing genuinely better products everywhere.
You’ll improve your environmental performance. Because you’ll actually be buying better products rather than ones with good marketing.
It saves you money. Greenwashing is often used to charge you more for stuff that doesn’t automatically come with an environmental benefit.
Making sustainable choices becomes easier. Environmental labels can feel overwhelming because there’s so much junk to sort through. Once you know how to spot it you won’t see it anymore.
Purchase with confidence. Support real change by rewarding companies that prove they’re making a genuine effort. You deserve to know what you’re actually buying.
Bonus Section: How To Stop Getting Greenwashed
It won’t happen overnight, but there are tangible steps you can take to start identifying greenwashing and finding better options.
**Step 1: Question Everything (1 week)**
Remember those five words at the top of the page? Add greenwashing to them.
When you see a product claim to be ‘green’ without providing clear evidence of what they did better and how much better, flag it in your mind as something that needs further research.
Practice this with things you already know and love. Find the ‘green’ alternatives to products you already buy and apply your newfound skepticism. Are they better? Does any of it actually prove better or are they just using a bunch of big words to make you think they are?
Cost: £0 Spend any less than you normally would. We’re learning, not shopping yet!
**Step 2: Learn Your Certifications (weeks 2-3)**
Take your time with this step. There are a lot of certifications out there and some are more meaningless than others.
Food: Organic certification, Fairtrade, Marine Stewardship Council, Friend of the Sea.
Household products: Cradle to Cradle, EU Ecolabel.
Textiles: GOTS, OEKO-TEX.
Keep a list of the certifications you trust for each category you regularly shop in. Once you’ve built your list, you can quickly identify which products are using certified better practices.
Cost: £0-20 Hopefully you’ve got Amazon Prime or something similar. There are a few guides out there that can help you learn certifications.
**Step 3: Apply The 5 Question Test (Week 4)**
Don’t let the title fool you. These are questions you should apply to every environmental claim you see for at least two weeks.
Until you can intuitively spot the bullshit, treat every environmental claim as a liar.
What specific improvement are they claiming?
What are they comparing this too? Their previous product? The worst offender in their category? Their own made up baseline?
How was this measured?
Was this claim verified by a third party?
What about everything else they didn’t tell you?
Cost: £0 Build a habit before you start buying stuff.
**Step 4: Build Your Alternative Research Habits (Month 2)**
This is the easy part. You know what you want to look for and you’ve got your go-to certifications you trust. Now find some places you can trust to tell you who’s who.
Which? – Independent product testing, includes environmental impact
Ethical Consumer – Company environmental and ethical ratings for every industry
B-Corp – Company-wide sustainability certification
There are also academic lifecycle assessment databases for different product categories if you’re looking for something more specific.
Cost: £50-100 a year for subscriptions. Choose one or two that work for you.
**Step 5: Start With Your Biggest Purchases Categories (Month 3 onwards)**
Apply everything you learned to the categories you spend money on most. Start with a few categories and really dig into them.
What products do you always buy? Where can you find them with greener alternatives? What certifications should you be looking for? What companies with better track records are worth buying from instead?
Document your findings! You’re building a personal database of knowledge that will save you money and help you make better environmental choices.
Over time, expand this to every category you buy things in. Greenwashing takes practice to spot, and the more you look for it the easier it becomes to identify real improvements.
Cost: You’ll probably end up spending less. Once you know how to spot greenwashing you won’t be as likely to get tricked into buying premium products that don’t have actual environmental benefits.
| Resource | Cost (£) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Which? subscription | £10/month | Independent product testing, includes environmental impact |
| Ethical Consumer subscription | £30/year | Company environmental and ethical ratings across all sectors |
| Certification verification apps | £0-10 | HowGood, Buycott, varies by category |
| Your time | 2-3 hours/week initially | Once you build the habit it should drop down to 10-15 minutes/week |
**Total Estimated Cost: £50-150/year**
You will spend time getting good at spotting greenwashing. That’s an investment that will pay off in better choices across all the purchasing you do, not just environmentally focused products.
After about six months, most people find that identifying greenwashing actually simplifies their shopping because it cuts through a lot of the crap you don’t need to pay attention to.
