Greenwashing: how to spot it and how not to do it.

Greenwashing is claiming more than you can prove. In our industry it is rarely a con. It's usually a well-meaning account manager who types "eco-friendly" into a proposal because it feels right, nobody asks what it means, and it sits there for three years until a client's procurement team does ask. I have seen it on our own proposals. We took it out.

My test is simple. If you can't finish the sentence "we call this sustainable because we did ___ and we measured ___," don't use the word.

Why this matters more than it used to

Clients got sharper. The corporate planner you're talking to probably works for a company with a published sustainability commitment and a procurement department that checks. Regulators got more interested; in the U.S. the Federal Trade Commission's Green Guides spell out what an environmental marketing claim needs behind it. And nothing on the internet goes away. A line on a proposal in 2024 is a line you may be asked about in 2029.

The bar isn't high, though. Specific, true, and modest will get you through almost anything. The claims that go wrong are the big, vague, unqualified ones.

The ways it shows up in our business

1. The unqualified general claim

"Eco-friendly." "Green." "Environmentally responsible event design." These say nothing, and the FTC treats broad, unqualified claims like them as close to impossible to substantiate, because they imply you're better across the board. Swap the adjective for the fact. Not "eco-friendly décor," but "eighty percent of this design by value is rental inventory that comes back to our warehouse." Longer, duller, and nobody can argue with it.

2. The one gesture that stands for everything

Compostable plates at an event where everything else was custom-built and dumpstered. A tree planted for every guest at a production with no reuse plan at all. The gesture is real. Calling it the event's sustainability story is misleading by omission. Describe the gesture as exactly what it was, and say what the rest was too.

3. Material claims without the system behind them

This is the one I see most. "Compostable" only means something if the material actually gets to a composting facility that takes it. "Recyclable" only means something if the venue's hauler recycles that material and somebody sorted it. Bamboo plates that go into the same can as everything else are landfill, just pricier landfill. Pair every material claim with where it went. "Compostable serviceware, collected separately, composted by O-Town Compost" is a claim. "Compostable plates" is a wish.

4. Offsets as the plan

Offsets are a real tool and a favorite place to overreach. "Carbon neutral event," built on offsets bought after the fact, with no attempt to reduce anything and no word on what kind of offsets or from whom, is exactly the claim that draws scrutiny. Reduce first. Offset what's left. Say both, and name the offsets.

5. Borrowed credentials

The venue is LEED certified. The hotel is Florida Green Lodging. The convention center has a megawatt of solar on the roof. Good for them. None of it is your achievement, and dressing your proposal in it reads as borrowing. Credit the venue by name, then describe what your team did inside their building.

6. Vague seals and self-made badges

A green leaf on your proposal template that doesn't correspond to anybody's standard implies a certification you don't have. If you use a seal, it should be a real one from a named certifier, and you should say what it certifies. If you don't have one, a plain sentence about what you did is worth more than any badge.

How to check a supplier's claim

You'll be on the receiving end of this as often as you're tempted by it. I ask suppliers four things, and I'd encourage planners to ask us the same four:

• Specifically what did you do? A real answer names materials, quantities, or processes. A vague answer repeats the adjective.
• How do you know? Measured, documented, or certified by whom? "We believe" is not an answer.
• What happens to it afterward? For anything physical, where does it go at strike?
• Can I say this to my client? If the supplier hesitates, the claim is not solid enough for your proposal.

The ones who can answer are your partners. The ones who can't aren't necessarily bad people; a lot of them just haven't been asked before. But their claims don't go into your proposal until they can.

What good looks like

A credible sustainability paragraph on a proposal is boring. That is the point. It covers the four areas, says what was done in each, gives a number where there is one, and admits where there isn't. Here is roughly what ours looks like right now, gaps included:

Nobody is going to accuse that of greenwashing. It's specific, it's true, it admits what we haven't done yet, and it promises a number. And a sophisticated client trusts it more than any amount of "eco-friendly," because it sounds like somebody who has actually done the work.

A note on the FTC Green Guides

The Green Guides are the FTC's guidance on environmental marketing claims. They aren't a statute, but the FTC goes after deceptive claims under its general authority, and the Guides are its description of what deceptive looks like. Most of what's above comes from them: general claims need qualifying, material claims need the disposal system to actually exist, seals have to be real and explained, offsets have to be substantiated. Your marketing people should read them. I'm not a lawyer and this isn't legal advice; before anything goes into advertising, have counsel look at it.