Tools for Understanding and Assessing Greenwashing
Photo by dylan nolte
Are you a marketer, policymaker, or consumer looking for more information on greenwashing? Are you hoping to hold someone accountable? See the resources below that visually summarize the 10 main forms of greenwashing, and provide you a framework to assess suspected greenwashing.
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Learn, or teach, the basics of greenwashing
Julien Beaulieu and Wren Montgomery have collaborated on a Sage module focused on the theory of greenwashing. This multi-media module is available to professors, libraries, classes, and more.
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Discover the 10 forms of greenwashing
There are 10 primary forms of greenwashing - which can all be avoided with the right knowledge and morals. This graphic boils down these 10 kinds, and give you tips on how to avoid each. Use the graphic to check your company’s statements and claims and identify any danger areas.
This list is adapted from An Integrated Framework to Assess Greenwashing, a peer-reviewed journal article. The graphic was created by the Network for Business Sustainability.
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Assess whether you or someone else is greenwashing
This framework is a tool for evaluating the environmental claims of organisations. It can support genuine green marketing and communication strategies, while holding others to account.
To use the framework: find a claim that is potentially a greenwash and check it against the list of indicator questions.
If any questions are answered with a ‘yes,’ the organisation is involved in greenwashing to some extent.
The tool comes from An Integrated Framework to Assess Greenwashing, a 2022 peer-reviewed journal article.
In 2025 the framework was updated to remain dynamic and timely. See the updated version here, listed as Appendix 1.
An online version of the 2022 tool is also hosted by the Climate Social Science Network.