How we think about greenwashing

This article was contributed by Sustainability Tracker.

Sustainability Tracker’s position on greenwashing

Greenwashing is one of the main reasons it’s hard to trust what brands say about sustainability. It’s not always an outright lie… often it’s a claim that’s technically true but misleading, or a positive story told without the full picture.

Sustainability Tracker exists to give you a clearer view. We pull together the actions and commitments brands have actually made and put them in one place, so you can search, compare and decide what matters to you. That only works if the information here is accurate and honest. This page explains how we define greenwashing, what we do when we spot it and how you can flag something if it doesn’t look right.

What counts as greenwashing?

We use a broad definition. At Sustainability Tracker, greenwashing is any claim, omission or framing that gives a false or misleading impression of a brand’s environmental impact whether that’s intentional or not.

That includes:

• Things that are not true. Claims without evidence, or claims that contradict the evidence.
• Things that are vague. Words like “green,” “eco-friendly,” or “clean” that sound positive but do not say anything specific.
• Things that are misleading by context. A claim that is accurate on its own but creates the wrong impression in the place it is being made.
• Things that are misleading by omission. Information left out that would change its accuracy or how a reasonable person understands the claim.
• Visual claims. Images, colours, textures and symbols that imply more than the facts support.

How we assess greenwashing claims

In practice, it comes down to this: What brands say, what’s true and what people take away
When those three things do not line up, that’s a problem.

We assess every claim on the platform against our FACTS framework — five tests that cover Fact, Appearance, Context, Transparency, and Substantiation.

We encourage every brand on the platform to attach supporting evidence to the claims they make, and from 17 May 2026, we are formalising this for third-party certifications. New certifications must have supporting evidence within 3 months. Existing certifications have 12 months to comply. This change strengthens what verification on Sustainability Tracker actually means.

When sharing a commitment is not greenwashing

Sustainability Tracker is built for brands to share their sustainability commitments openly — including future targets, work in progress, and partial achievements. That’s the point of the platform. Having goals, or updating them as science and circumstances change, is not greenwashing.

The problem starts when those same statements are used in marketing — on packaging, in ads, at the point of sale — to imply something has already been achieved, or to nudge a purchase decision without the full context.

We assess claims based on where and how they’re being made, not just what they say.

What we do about it

When we identify a problem — through our own checks or a concern someone raises — we contact the brand directly and privately. We give them the chance to update, clarify, or remove the content.

For more serious issues, we reserve the right to take content down, suspend a brand’s profile or remove them from the platform entirely.

How to raise a concern

If something doesn’t look right, email us at hello@sustainabilitytracker.com with the brand name, the content in question, and what concerns you. We investigate every report. You don’t need to give your name, and we won’t share your identity with the brand.

Trust is the only thing that makes this platform work and we take that seriously.