greenwashing

1 of 2

noun

green·wash·ing ˈgrēn-ˌwȯ-shiŋ

-ˌwä-

: the act or practice of making a product, policy, activity, etc. appear to be more environmentally friendly or less environmentally damaging than it really is

The practice of greenwashing appears more common as firms attempt to better position themselves in a global marketplace growing more concerned with corporate sustainability.—

Timothy W. Aurand et al.

Not only is greenwashing bad for the environment, but it's misleading to consumers who want to invest in products that aren't harmful to the planet.—

Jennifer Manfrin

The greenwashing allegation … adds to efforts to heap pressure on some of the world's biggest polluting companies as regulators take an increasing interest in climate change.—

William Mathis and Austin Weinstein Bloomberg

A lack of rigorous measurement means that greenwashing is rife and bogus claims go uncontested.—

The Economist

greenwashing

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present participle of greenwash

Examples of greenwashing in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Many companies will also likely have to outsource the estimation and quantification of emissions and climate risks to third-party companies, where there have been concerns about higher costs, conflicts of interest and greenwashing. —

Sehoon Kim, The Conversation, 6 Mar. 2024 But those are lame excuses after eight years of greenwashing at Disneyland — and who knows how many yet to come. —

Sammy Roth, Los Angeles Times, 9 Apr. 2024 The move underscores how rampant greenwashing is within fashion and sets a precedent for other brands to follow. —

Prarthana Prakash, Fortune Europe, 27 Mar. 2024 More importantly, to address concerns about greenwashing, her organization could allow the public to monitor these forests 24/7 through a direct feed to her website. —

Nives Dolsak and Aseem Prakash, Forbes, 25 Feb. 2024 The path forward is simple: To combat greenwashing, the financial services sector needs to develop deeper and more reliable insights into ESG performance. —

Anirban Bose, Fortune, 31 Jan. 2024 Most of their workers don’t have it —Jane Thier The fight against greenwashing starts with AI. —

Sage Lazzaro, Fortune, 1 Feb. 2024 People who accuse you of greenwashing don't do anything real to make a difference. —

James Morris, Forbes, 18 Feb. 2024 But even if that’s not the case, do the inflated numbers on the display count as greenwashing? —

Alden Wicker, WIRED, 10 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'greenwashing.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.