Two Sides Global Campaign Reports Rising Greenwashing Cases as Organizations Focus on Sustainability

Submitted: Two Sides North America October 31, 2024

Globally, Two Sides has challenged over 2,800 organizations found to be communicating greenwashing messages to their customers, resulting in more than 1,260 organizations removing or changing misleading anti-paper statements.

Economic pressures continue to drive many cases of greenwashing, with numerous organizations that have previously relied on paper for communication shifting their customers from traditional paper-based services to digital platforms to cut costs. This transition is often accompanied by misleading and unsubstantiated environmental marketing claims like “Go Green – Go Paperless” or “Choose e-billing and help save a tree,” – but this is misleading and greenwashing.

The Two Sides global campaign has engaged over 2,800 organizations making misleading claims about paper. In North America alone, nearly 200 companies, from large Fortune 500 companies to small local utilities, have removed or changed these statements.

Consumer preferences are being ignored in the push for digital communications. Data from the 2023 Two Sides Trend Tracker report revealed that 81% of U.S. consumers believe they should have the option to choose and do not want to be forced over to digital communications.

Two Sides North America Executive Director Jules Van Sant says, “These greenwashing claims not only breach established environmental marketing regulations but also harm an industry with a well-established and continually improving environmental track record. A healthy market for forest products, such as paper, encourages the long-term growth of forests through sustainable forest management. Forests are growing in North America by the equivalent of 1,200 NFL football fields every day and keeping them renewed and sustainable is critical for the environment and for our industry.”

“It remains vital that these misleading messages are challenged to ensure that the industry’s great environmental record is acknowledged. We are working to protect the livelihoods of the 925,000 people who work in the forest, paper, packaging and print sectors from the impact of opportunistic and deceptive greenwash marketing,” Van Sant said.

The Two Sides Global Campaign for Anti-greenwashing continues to be a priority for Two Sides. It continues to urge companies not to use unsubstantiated and misleading environmental claims about going paperless in their communications.

“We are grateful for the cooperation of the hundreds of organizations that have changed or eliminated greenwashing claims from their messaging, and we are also thankful for the many industry stakeholders and members of the public who send Two Sides new greenwashing claims to pursue,” Van Sant concludes.

To learn more about greenwashing or to submit a claim, please visit Anti-Greenwashing Campaign – Two Sides North America.

Notes to editors

About Two Sides

Two Sides is a not-for-profit, global initiative promoting the unique, sustainable, and attractive attributes of print, paper, and paper packaging. Two Sides’ members span the entire print, paper and paper packaging value chain, including forestry, pulp, paper, packaging, inks and chemicals, finishing, publishing, printing, envelopes and postal workers.

For more information about the anti-greenwashing campaign, or to learn more about Two Sides, please contact us:

For more information, please contact:

Jules VanSant
Two Sides North America
jules@twosidesna.org
www.twosidesna.org

Share this story