Consumers have low trust in companies’ environmental claims, finds a new poll by Kantar.
Over 50% of consumers believe brands across all industries are misleading them with green claims, as BusinessGreen reported.
The findings come from interviews with 26,000 consumers in 33 markets.
Kantar found between 58% and 60% of consumers are most sceptical of environmental claims made by the social media and meat or meat products industries. Those respondents thought companies in these industries were misleading people with their sustainability claims.
While pet food and baby hygiene products have highest levels of trust, there was high level of concern about the accuracy of companies’ green claims, with 42% and 46% of consumers, respectively, reporting their mistrust of these sectors.
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Kantar global head of sustainable transformation practice Karine Trinquetel said: “Half of global consumers believe brands across all sectors are greenwashing their activities, putting customers’ trust at risk through miscommunication and misguided strategies.”
“Brands need a nuanced understanding of the opportunities to cut through and drive meaningful change,” she added.
“Acting with bravery and boldness to lead the way in sustainability has never been a more critical imperative, regardless of your sector.”
The poll findings come after RepRisk found around one in four climate ESG risk incidents are linked to greenwashing, an increase from one in five in last year’s report.
In particular, the financial and banking sectors saw a 70% increase in the number of climate-related greenwashing incidents in the past year
Over 50% of these climate-specific greenwashing risk incidents either mentioned fossil fuels or linked a financial institution to an oil and gas company.
