On 9th June a new quango was set up to tackle greenwashing. In this short blog, Chris Bowden, Managing Director of Squeaky comments on the formation of the group.
We welcome closer scrutiny around the claims being made. Over the last two years we have seen multiple c-suite executives making unrealistic and somewhat outlandish net zero pledges, instead of taking action now. This creates a poisoned chalice for future leaders and is neither helpful, nor ethical.
We hope this group works to further educate organisations on what they need to do to work towards net zero. For instance, we have witnessed a number of firms misunderstanding the difference between clean energy and all the other greenwashing variants. Some suppliers in the UK actually source energy from fossil fuels and then buy REGOS (or even worse European GOs) and package this up as ‘renewable energy’ for their clients.
Imagine claiming that your company has committed to green energy (and publicising this to the media) only to find that you’re buying fossil fuel energy or undermining the UKs support schemes like the Feed in Tariff. That’s a PR disaster waiting to happen for many companies! We need to lift the curtain on this.