Greenwashing is a term that’s been around since the 1980s, coined to describe companies that mislead or lie about environmental achievements. But 2023 may be the year of “greenhushing,” where companies start staying quiet about climate goals and progress.
A recent report by South Pole said that nearly a quarter of surveyed global climate leaders “will not be publicizing their achievements and milestones in the climate space beyond the bare minimum or as required.”
Much of that hushing could be due to the political climate, according to Jason Jay, director of the Sustainability Initiative at MIT Sloan School of Management. He used Texas as an example. The state recently banned business between pension funds and financial firms like BlackRock, firms the state deemed to be boycotting the fossil fuel industry. BlackRock has increasingly come under fire for environmental, social and governance (ESG) investments.
“I think we are in a moment where putting yourself in the public eye opens you up to various kinds of scrutiny and criticism and potentially being labeled as a company that is on the left or on the right,” Jay said.
In today’s climate, companies are mostly caught between a rock and a hard place, facing criticism from both sides for either engaging in ESG practices or not doing enough in the ESG space. But greenhushing could also be inspired by a whiplash effect from being accused of greenwashing, where companies pretend a product or business is more environmentally friendly to draw in customers.
“You don’t want to start waving the banner around saying, ‘I’m a green company,’ when you’re still in the process of working toward that greenness,” Jay said, noting companies that do so open themselves up to even more criticism from the very consumers they’re trying to entice.
“If you’re one of the first companies to do something, to set a goal to do some decarbonization work, to make progress, it’s really important that you talk about it, because that potentially brings in others who want to imitate you and it starts to build momentum,” Jay said.
But with carbon goals now pretty commonplace, Jay said it’s less important to keep announcing it.
“I’m not surprised that we’re starting to have a conversation about greenhushing, because if you haven’t come to the party yet, suddenly waving a banner saying, ‘Hey, we’re here now,’ may not get you the benefit you want,” he said.
Watch the full interview above for more on why Jay says companies should be “very cautious” about net-zero or carbon neutral claims.
