The "Democracy, Sustainability and Corporations" conference was held at UNESCO headquarters in Paris on February 21st, 2023, as part of the "Global Conference on internet democracy." A Citizens’ Platform on Climate Change and a Sustainable World event co-organised with The Map Report, the aim was to discuss the real needs for efficient and effective development of corporate sustainability.
Elisa Flamini, Sustainability Manager at Green Media Lab, talked about greenwashing and its 7 sins: fibbing, worshiping false labels, no proof, hidden trade off, vagueness, lesser of two evils, and irrelevance.
Greenwashing means making customers believe that a product has a greater positive impact on the environment than it does. Using visual clues, making statements not supported by science or staying vague are some of the ways used by many brands. Elisa Flamini also introduced the concept of green-hushing, often used by companies to avoid being called out for greenwashing.