Cathie Lloyd shows that scepticism about enterprises claiming to be ‘green’ is a crucial attitude for everyone concerned to see positive action on the environment
‘Greenwashing’ has become a familiar term covering a range of activities by big business seeking to exploit opportunities presented by the climate crisis. When something claims to be any of the following, we need to be alert to the risks of duplicity and exploitation: Carbon offsetting, carbon capture, carbon credits. (Click here for one useful article with original advertising clips which sheds light on the origins of the term ‘greenwashing’).
There’s too long a history of companies who present themselves as caring environmental stewards, even as they were engaging in environmentally unsustainable practices.
In his recent book on the obstacles facing attempts to stem the climate crisis, Tad Delay suggests that some greenwashing operations are rather like the medieval indulgences which were sold on the basis of claims that they would protect wealthy individuals from the plague or enable them to avoid ‘divine’ punishment for sins – in exchange for money.
Delay sees capitalism as ‘an ecocidal engine constantly regenerating climate change denial’. Greenwashing was a term initially applied to nuclear power but has since then developed across advertising, using techniques and symbols such as the BP logo which illustrates this article: it is important to keep an eye on all claims that particular enterprises are green.
Recent issues have involved green 'sportswashing', the sponsorship of art and cultural events and claims that ‘nuclear is green’ which are based on very narrowly-conceived arguments and 'evidence' – as exposed in physicist MV Ramana’s comprehensive research.
In Scotland, we should be particularly interested in the activities of the Drax group, which directly impact on us. This multinational group which was one of the corporate sponsors of the Labour party conference, runs a large biomass power station at Selby in North Yorkshire and owns and has expanded the Cruachan hydro power station here in Scotland. Drax claims to be a renewable energy company - although its north American enterprise produces compressed wood pellets for its own use and for customers in Europe and Asia which have drawn attention both to questionable practices and huge public subsidies going its way. The renewable energy being exported from Peterhead through the ‘superhighway’ will be going to a new converter station at Drax in Yorkshire. This is developing into a very powerful operation. Given the high costs of energy which Scottish households will face this winter, a very controversial one.
Forestry grants are another instance of greenwashing. In Lanarkshire, a Guernsey based company was discovered spraying herbicide prior to forest planting on farmland while preparing for on a hoped-for Scottish forestry grant. The concern is that non-local buyers can buy productive land and use it to mitigate CO2 emissions operations elsewhere. Some people are concerned about what they say seems to be an inherent conflict within Scottish Forestry which both regulates and awards grants. The NFU has also raised concerns about use of/ price of farmland (one issue being judgements about productive / non-productive land) and how precious food producing land can be converted into greenwashed forests.
This article is based on Cathie’s September 2024 ‘environment report’.