Written by John Pabon, author of Sustainability for the rest of us, The great greenwashing is many things. It is a tirade in the tradition of Fast food nation or No logoagainst the evils of greenwashing. It is an educational book that shows how not only companies, but also nation states, sporting events and celebrities engage in greenwashing. But it is also a “how-to” manual for the conscientious reader and a motivational book to help prevent environmental doomism from taking hold.
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The book begins with a very normal, real-life scenario: you, the reader, are standing in a supermarket trying to make an ethical decision. Pabon then takes some time to outline the forms of greenwashing that are prevalent today. These include green talk and misleading claims (“up 50%” when the actual amount has increased from 2% to 3%), misleading and selective disclosure, and greenscamming.
His outrage is easy to understand: cases such as the fossil fuel industry’s unfettered support of climate change denial, widespread “astroturfing” and opaque lobby groups such as the oil industry’s “European Institute for Climate and Energy” deserve this outrage.
The book also takes the time to highlight the importance of looking at the entire supply chain when evaluating a company’s environmental promises. An entire chapter is devoted to fast fashion and contains many horrifying details about working conditions and waste, including the fact that 100 million tons of textiles are thrown away worldwide each year (that figure will rise to 134 million by 2030). “No amount of organic cotton can compensate for a building collapsing on your workers,” the author stresses.
The middle section of the book takes the reader through the different types of greenwashers, from the incorrigible – tobacco, armaments and fossil fuels – to the more trustworthy. After reflecting on the nature of trust, he includes pharmaceuticals, food and medical technology in the latter category, which might betray the author’s recent Australian background. However, “there is no perfect company,” he admits. “Even the most mission-driven, socially responsible and ethical B Corps will still have some problems when you look behind the scenes.” Readers are cautioned to be patient: like battleships, companies change direction slowly.
The responsibility of individuals, companies and governments is examined in turn. First, he provides a critical but fundamentally optimistic analysis of companies. The evolution of a company often begins with a manager’s pet project before it becomes embedded in the company culture, the book says, but “as companies evolve … the available scope for greenwashing becomes increasingly narrow.”
Drawing on his own experiences in Shanghai, the US and Australia, Pabon does not hesitate to highlight some successful and nuanced cases he was involved in while working at management consultancy BSR. The common thread that motivates the book is: is greenwashing perpetrated by well-meaning novices starting their journey into sustainability or by bad actors? He celebrates the successes of his clients (DocuSign, BMW, various China-based companies and even Walmart) that are hardly known outside a small circle.
The most disturbing are the chapters on government-sponsored greenwashing.
The sustainability claims of The Line, a Saudi government real estate project, are dismissed as “all rubbish”: the country routinely violates human rights, the project is environmentally “unforgivable” and it will not solve Saudi Arabia’s fundamental oil problems. Australia is at high risk because of its dependence on mining, while Climate Action Tracker rates Singapore – a “perfect city” to some – as “critically inadequate” in doing what it needs to do. Meanwhile, the European Union is way ahead on sustainability but today, years after saying “we need to get rid of Russian oil and gas”, it imports fossil fuels from elsewhere. Even Sweden is not without blame; its forestry industry relies on clearing all but 3% of all the country’s forests. “Hypernational” organisations such as FIFA and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) are also among the worst offenders, both in terms of their environmental impact and their attempts at greenwashing and misleading.
The final chapters deal with the question of what can be done about it. The book asks the reader to think about the role of activists, NGOs and celebrities. This includes business celebrities and billionaires: Neither Jeff Bezos nor Elon Musk nor the participants of the World Economic Forum in Davos remain immune to criticism. “The people in these rooms have no problem at all imagining that they are more intelligent than the rest of us, with all the answers and the most resources (but not the willingness to get things done). In my world, that makes them the biggest greenwashers of all.”
In the end, however, we are reminded: “It is Your responsibility to change.”
The author provides good insight into the types of activism that work and those that defeat the original purpose, and offers examples where collective action has produced results: such as when the Royal Shakespeare Company stopped sponsoring BP following input from younger audience members. “You can do anything,” we are reminded, “but you can’t do everything.”
He also warns against individual greenwashing: Although there is no perfect environmentalist, Pabon calls on readers to question their own lifestyle: “Are you a vegan who drives a large SUV?” He also takes the position that the best thing you can do for the climate is to have fewer children.
Readers tired of academic tomes will enjoy the book’s conversational, Internet-influenced style. “Google it,” the author instructs. “Go ahead. I’ll wait.” Unlike traditional business or popular science books, many sections seem to have been lifted from the transcript of an entertaining conference talk.
The author takes long detours to topics such as a detailed description of the Rana Plaza and Triangle Shirtwaist disasters, a summary of the plot of Everything everywhere at onceand the full trials of Steve Donziger, who tried to sue Chevron over an oil spill in Ecuador and was persecuted, imprisoned, and ruined for it. These digressions can be confusing at first—why exactly are we reading the text of Sarah McLachlan’s In the Arms of an Angel?—but the purpose is generally explained at the end of the chapter. The summary chapters that frame each section are therefore a useful addition to a narrative that would otherwise have been in danger of digressing. However, while the book contains good and complete references, it lacks an index.
There are also moments when the author’s comparisons are confusing and the book’s conclusions are not exactly rigorous. The incidence of corporate misconduct is calculated by the number of results on Google; a “gaslighting” tobacco company is bizarrely compared to a student from Mali taking a French course to easily get an A. It can also be difficult to understand the tone of the book, which oscillates between invective and encouragement.
Most importantly, the ultimate messages – take another look before being fooled by sustainability claims, take the right actions, and don’t give in to climate doomism – are the right ones. Readers who want to not just get angry but make a difference will find a soul mate and a shining example for the future here.
The Great Greenwashing: How Brands, Governments and Influencers Lie to You
Johannes Pabon
2024, House of Anansi Press Incorporated, 296 pages
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