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As we enter a time where being economically sustainable is necessary to make real environmental improvements, companies are cracking under pressure to keep up. Companies that we expose, or don’t, are utilizing greenwashing and it is increasing at an alarming rate. The ideal standard for these companies is to turn to more environmentally friendly work practices to decrease the carbon footprint that they are leaving behind. Since the world was hit with the deadly virus, COVID-19, people started to view the human-environment relationship differently. According to Dr. Kolandai in a University of Auckland study, people’s awareness of the natural world developed after experiencing what a pause in daily life could do to help the planet. Having said, companies are trying to shift towards being eco-friendly businesses where consumers are comfortable with spending their money but are being deceptive while marketing their new goals.

It should be no surprise environmental changes need to be made since global warming has been on the rise for quite a while now, since the 1950s to be specific. As the world has developed, mass production has had a major growth spurt along with all of our technological advancements. This is what birthed large companies, leading to uncontrollable pollution. According to the Carbon Disclosure Project, a non-profit that manages environmental impacts, just 100 companies are responsible for 71 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions alone; no wonder why they are trying to polish their image to the public, right?

A major contribution to greenwashing is the government turning a blind eye to what the companies that they support are secretly doing. For instance, one of the largest, and widely used oil companies in the United States, Chevron, has been in the spotlight for quite some time because of their poor business practices. They contributed 697 million tons of CO₂ to greenhouse gas emissions according to Client Earth’s greenwashing files in 2019. Since being exposed, they have promised to move towards a carbon low future by 2050 but have only been putting .2 per cent of their capital towards this project from 2010-2018, which means they are fabricating their efforts. This is possibly one of the worst greenwashing cases we have seen because the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System claiming that Chevron “remains in compliance with federal, state and local water regulatory standards.” Clearly not.

Even when the government attempts to step in and help to expose these companies who are greenwashing customers, the fabrication is much easier to get away with because of the difficulty in proving it. According to Dr. Steve Wong, “it’s also hard for companies that buy polymers to use in their packaging to distinguish between the plastic types without laboratory testing,” proving there is authenticity in what companies say they are using to make their products is much more tedious then expected. One example is insuring beverage bottles that state they are being made out of recycled plastic, like Coca-Cola, is actually truthful. But when researching further, really only 25 per cent of the bottle is actually recycled plastic while the remainder 75 per cent is Virgin Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) according to Beth Newhard in her article, “Plastic vs. Plastic: Which Packaging is Best.” Virgin Polyethylene terephthalate is a plastic that is seen mostly in single use bottles that end up being discarded and not recycled even though they can be. According to Jared Paben in article, “PET bottle recycling drops in the US,” he claims that the rate of these bottles being recycled dropped to a whopping 27 per cent; definitely not being recycled as much as we are told. Companies use this material to greenwash their consumers into thinking their products are being recycled, but really have ended up in landfills and are polluting our water more and more every day.

Environmental credentials are made by many companies, but not all of them live up to the bar that they set for themselves. One of the biggest food distributers, Nestle, has been named the top plastic polluters in the world for three consecutive years according to “Break free From Plastic” 2020 annual report. This has led them to promote their “ambitions” about being 100 per cent recyclable by 2025, but the campaign was not backed with any proof. Nestle’s form of greenwashing is subtle but there, they claim they are moving towards being recyclable but have no existing targets to hit according to Perry Wheeler in his “Greenpeace” article. A large company that contributes to this much waste for many years should have a bigger plan than just feeding the public outright lies through their campaigns.

The numerous companies that are relying on greenwashing to appeal to their audience has increased in recent years. Consumers want to see changes made in their campaigns that show they are willing to switch to eco-conscious habits even though it takes some muscle. Fabrication, outright lies, and propaganda are the only appropriate terms to use when referring to the countless greenwashing campaigns that have been exposed and that are continuing to be investigated. Companies’ promotion of misleading campaigns of environmental sustainability efforts are hiding the public from the harsh truths of destructive business practices.

References
(Not Sources)

Did you actually CITE all these sources in this argument? Or did you just consult them?
In References, list only those sources you actually name by author, title, or publication.

Paben, J. (2020, December 2). PET bottle recycling rate drops in US . Plastics Recycling Update.

Newhart, B. (2020, March 6). Plastic vs plastic: Which packaging is best? Beveragedaily.com.

Wheeler, P. (2018, April 10). Nestlé misses the mark with statement on tackling its single-use plastics problem. Greenpeace USA.

CDP. (2017, July 10). New Report Shows Just 100 Companies Are Source of over 70% of Emissions. CDP.net.

Auckland, U. of. (n.d.). COVID has changed how people view the environment and their relationship to it. Medicalxpress.com.

Wong, S. (2020, May 28). Cheap virgin plastic is being sold as recycled plastic—it’s time for better recycling certification. Eco-Business.

‌The Greenwashing Files – Chevron | ClientEarth. (n.d.). Www.clientearth.org.

‌ Eonnet, E. (2020, December 2). The Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo and Nestlé named top plastic polluters for the third year in a row | Break Free From Plastic. Www.breakfreefromplastic.org.