By now, all of us are well versed in sustainability regulations but did you know that there are little to no ordinances around most of the words we associate with? Just when we thought we mastered the lingo of sustainable cultures such as Eco-friendly, Non-toxic, Clean ingredients, Natural, Organic, Biodegradable, Compostable and Recyclable, it dropped more clever terms which are now heavily influencing the consumer intellects to manipulate the ethical values of sustainable production.
Sustainability is not something which can be measured by fixing a few things, it’s a process from start to end including almost every sector and segment, a product could progress through, to finally reach the hands of a consumer. So more terms such as Greenwishing, Greenhushing, came to play their part in sustainable manipulation.

There’s some confusion to break down these terms therefore we explain three greens below to apprehend sufficiently.
Greenwashing

Environmentalist Jay Westerveld published a report in 1986, in which he asserted the hotel industry falsely promoted the reuse of towels as part of a broader environmental strategy. The term Greenwashing was
minted by him and the act was designed as a cost-saving measure in 2010. In the last decade, it’s evolved rapidly to get savvier around the textile industry. In simple terms, greenwashing is when a company spends more time and more money making you think they’re doing something great for the planet than they actually, accomplish something.

Around the year 2019 Greenwashing got fueled by many textile mills and garment companies to benefit from the funds and schemes ethical organizations and governments commenced to prevent global warming. The rising awareness and growing concern in consumer minds for sustainable products has triggered false claims from many brands, with sustainable hubs on their website. Just to improve the brand value and its image, companies have started misleading environmental credentials with no credible backing or clarity on carbon emissions. Cultivates a culture of climate confusion by misinforming and misguiding customers. The backlash to such claims is on the rise in the form of customer scrutiny and legal action. Greenwashing turned out to be the biggest marketing tactic which partly resulted due to a lack of industries wide standards. From high-end luxury brands to fast fashion, every second company is deeply involved in greenwashing.

Greenwishing

The most important term, Greenwishing was coined by environmentalist Duncan Austin in a 2019 essay. He defined this current vexation as, the earnest hope that we’ll-intended efforts to make the world more sustainable are, much closer to achieving the necessary change than they are.”

Greenwishing is the negligence of sustainability efforts to materially contribute to climate change alleviation.
Greenwishing is a target idea created by the professional as a sustainability officer who]s showing metrics to approve for policy change and form alliances to attain the essential system change. Well-meaning greenwishing can fast ramble into greenwashing when leaders affirm that their aspirational criteria will likely not materialise into substantive climate change relief.

Greenwishing differs from greenwashing in encouragement, it’s arbitrary blindness as prominent from green

ambition per se, actively undermines Team Climate Urgency in recreating Climate Chess.

Greenhushing

With the required certification and scrutiny or fuss behind the climate- related claims on the rise, brands have become hesitant to disclose anything to do with climate activities. Greenhushing is becoming a new norm for companies who wish to join the race of ethical production but are not willing to provide any clarity relating to the authenticity of the product or process. It’s about lessening the external transmission of climate responsibilities. To avoid analysis for failing short on legitimate sustainability performance improvement. The industry’s wide framework still gives varied loopholes to disguise in greenhushing. At present, there is no clarity in terms of regulations for consistent policies that greenwashing indictments need to follow before being claimed and
communicated broadly. The current infrastructure can provoke an expansion of unsubstantiated greenwashing claims, reducing the inducement for brands to be open about their efforts. Greenhushing results in missed prospects to confront consumers in the environmental discourse.

Sustainability and eco-friendly brands are on the rise, we find some are far off being ethical or aligning with sustainable values. We need to get more aware of biodegradable manipulation companies are mastering
along with the individual brands. Because there is no planet B, Embracing slow fashion with constant analysis and change of lifestyle in buying behaviour will make difference.