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Greenwashing Is No Longer the Biggest Problem

  • Jun 18
  • 6 min read
Greenwashing is no longer the biggest problem
Greenwashing is no longer the biggest problem

For years, greenwashing has dominated the sustainability debate.

Brands have been criticised for exaggerating environmental achievements, making vague sustainability claims, or presenting incremental improvements as transformational change. Regulators have tightened requirements, consumer organisations have increased scrutiny, and stakeholders have become more demanding when it comes to evidence and transparency. This development has been both necessary and overdue.


Trust depends on credibility. If sustainability claims cannot be substantiated, they risk misleading customers, distorting competition, and ultimately undermining confidence in sustainability efforts altogether. Yet while greenwashing remains a legitimate concern, recent developments suggest that another challenge may be emerging.


The paradox is that sustainability is becoming increasingly important to consumers at the very moment many organisations are becoming less willing to communicate about it.


The Rise of Greenhushing


Over the last few years, sustainability communication has entered a new phase.

Faced with growing regulatory requirements, increasing public scrutiny, and concerns about reputational risk, many organisations have become more cautious about communicating sustainability initiatives. What started as a justified effort to avoid misleading claims has, in some cases, evolved into a reluctance to communicate progress at all. This phenomenon has become known as greenhushing.


The scale of the shift is significant. South Pole's 2024 survey of more than 1,400 companies across 12 countries found that organisations in the majority of sectors surveyed had deliberately reduced climate-related communications due to concerns about scrutiny and accusations of greenwashing. The same study found that many organisations perceive sustainability communication as significantly more difficult today than only a few years ago.

These findings do not suggest that companies are necessarily doing less. Rather, they suggest that many companies are becoming less willing to talk about what they are doing. The distinction is important.

While greenwashing creates a gap between communication and reality, greenhushing risks creating a gap between reality and visibility.

The Paradox of Sustainability Communication


What makes this development particularly interesting is that it coincides with evidence suggesting that sustainability continues to grow in importance for consumers. Research from Sustainable Brand Index shows a strong correlation between perceived sustainability and brand preference. In fact, the impact of perceived sustainability on brand preference has almost doubled in recent years, increasing from 28% to 56%. At the same time, sustainability is increasingly becoming a baseline expectation rather than a niche differentiator.


This finding challenges a common assumption. If organisations are communicating less about sustainability because they believe consumers care less, the data suggests otherwise. The issue is not declining interest. The issue is increasing complexity.


Consumers are becoming more critical. Regulators are demanding stronger evidence. Sustainability claims are being examined more closely than ever before. As a result, many organisations have become more cautious. The question is whether caution has started to limit transparency.


Consumers Want Sustainability — But They Also Want Clarity


Another important finding emerges when looking at consumer behaviour. According to Kantar's 2025 research, 97% of consumers say they are willing to take action to live more sustainably. Yet only 13% report actively changing their behaviour.


This gap between intention and action is often referred to as the attitude-behaviour gap.

For brands, this is a critical insight. The challenge is not simply to offer more sustainable products or services. The challenge is to make sustainable choices understandable, attractive, accessible, and relevant within everyday life. In this context, communication still plays an important role. Not because communication alone creates sustainability, but because communication helps people understand new possibilities, navigate complex choices, and recognise value beyond price.


Price matters less when value is clear

When organisations stop communicating altogether, they risk making sustainable alternatives less visible at precisely the moment when consumers are searching for guidance.


From Purpose Fatigue to Proof


Part of the explanation may lie in what many observers have described as purpose fatigue.

Over the past decade, consumers have been exposed to a growing number of purpose statements, sustainability commitments, and ambitious promises. While many organisations have made genuine progress, communication has often moved faster than transformation.

The result is that stakeholders increasingly expect proof rather than promises.

This is not necessarily a problem. In fact, it may be a healthy development.

As discussed throughout The Brand Value Circles, sustainability cannot remain a decorative layer added to the outside of a brand. It must become embedded in the way value is created, delivered, and captured. Sustainable brand-building is ultimately not a communication exercise. It is a business transformation exercise.


The challenge is therefore not whether organisations should communicate less or more.

The challenge is whether communication reflects genuine progress.


The Real Risk Is Not Greenwashing


Greenwashing remains a risk. Misleading claims should be challenged, and organisations should be held accountable for the promises they make. However, the growing focus on greenwashing may inadvertently create a new risk. If organisations become so concerned about saying the wrong thing that they stop communicating entirely, opportunities for learning, inspiration, and collective progress may be lost. This matters because sustainability transitions rarely happen in isolation.


Organisations learn from one another. Industries evolve through examples. Customers become familiar with new behaviours through visibility and repetition. Progress becomes easier when it is shared. When organisations go silent, progress becomes harder to see.

And what cannot be seen is often difficult to scale.


Beyond Communication: Building Sustainability Capabilities


Perhaps this is why the discussion should move beyond both greenwashing and greenhushing. The most important question is no longer whether organisations are communicating sustainability correctly. The more important question is whether sustainability is becoming embedded in how organisations innovate, create value, engage stakeholders, and make decisions.


  • Can sustainability be found in the business model?

  • Does it influence innovation priorities?

  • Is it reflected in products, services, partnerships, investment decisions, and organisational culture?


These questions ultimately matter more than any individual sustainability campaign.

As argued throughout The Brand Value Circles, future-fit brands will increasingly be judged not by the promises they make, but by the capabilities they develop. Brands are moving from storytelling to system actors. From communicating value to creating value. From positioning sustainability to operationalising it.


Moving Forward


Greenwashing has not disappeared. But it may no longer be the only challenge organisations need to address. The emergence of greenhushing suggests that sustainability communication is entering a new phase, one characterised not by exaggerated claims but by increasing caution and uncertainty. At the same time, consumer expectations continue to evolve.


Sustainability is becoming a baseline expectation, and perceived sustainability continues to play an increasingly important role in shaping brand preference. This creates a difficult balancing act. Organisations must communicate honestly without overstating their impact.

They must be transparent about progress while acknowledging limitations.

And they must ensure that communication is supported by evidence, action, and transformation. Perhaps the future does not belong to the brands that speak the loudest.

Nor to those that remain silent. It belongs to the brands that can demonstrate how sustainability is embedded in the way they create value for customers, society, the business, and the planet.


Let's Continue the Conversation


One of the questions that inspired me to develop The Brand Value Circles was how organisations can build brands that create value not only for the business, but also for people and society. Today, many organisations find themselves caught between the fear of greenwashing and the risk of greenhushing. At the same time, sustainability is becoming increasingly important to customers, employees, investors, and regulators.


Navigating this complexity requires more than better communication. It requires new capabilities, new business models, and new ways of creating value. If you are exploring how sustainability can become a stronger driver of innovation, brand-building, and business development in your organisation, I would be delighted to continue the conversation.


Feel free to reach out.



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The sustainability landscape is evolving rapidly. New regulations, shifting consumer expectations, emerging technologies, and changing business models are continuously reshaping the way brands create value.


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Further Reading


South Pole (2024):

Sustainable Brand Index:

Brand Preference & Sustainability Research

Kantar Sustainability Sector Index 2025:

 
 
 

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