The Briefcase 33: 5 Greenwashing Hall of Fame Inductees

Greenwashing isn’t just what leprechauns call one of their laundry cycles – even though they do call it that. No, it’s not only that, greenwashing is also a problem that’s relevant to accountants, as well as leprechauns.

Yes, accountants are facing growing pressure to demonstrate their organisation’s green credentials. People care more now about the environmental risks a business is creating. It’s no longer enough to say "we recycle” and call it a day; investors want ESG metrics, and regulators want disclosures. And customers want to feel that they’re not making the world worse by buying your product.

So, how do you avoid greenwashing in your own reporting? Well, a good way is to read how the masters of art go about it. So, with that in mind, let’s take a tour of the Greenwashing Hall of Fame – partly to gawp at the monstrous ways businesses have tried to seem ethical, partly to learn from their mistakes.

1) Volkswagen and Dieselgate 🚗💨

Volkswagen marketed its diesel cars as "clean” and low-emission, while programming the engine software to spot when it was being tested and switch emissions controls on only in the lab.

In normal driving, those cars could emit up to 40x the legal NOx limit, and the alleged "defeat device” ended up affecting around 11 million vehicles worldwide.

This couldn’t really be explained away as an oversight, given all the signs that it was premeditated, and it ended up costing the company billions of pounds.

Accountant’s takeaway:

Stuff like this simply doesn’t fly, and nor does it drive. Accountants should treat sustainability metrics like financial ones – with tight boundaries, evidence, and oversight.

2) BP and "Beyond Petroleum” 🛢️🌿

BP’s "Beyond Petroleum” slogan might rank as one of the strangest examples of greenwashing you can imagine. It’s like if Toys ‘R’ Us rebranded as Beyond Toys, or if Apple Music rebranded as Apple Music and Beyond, or if Beds, Baths and Beyond rebranded as Beyond Beds, Baths, and Beyond.

BP spent years rebranding itself as a greener energy company, changing its logo to the delightful petally sunburst that it is today. The issue was that the vast majority of its investments still flowed into oil and gas, with renewables getting a comparatively tiny slice. Then Deepwater Horizon happened and the gap between the messaging and reality was frontpage news.

Accountant’s takeaway:

You probably can’t get away with rebranding as a green company if you have "petroleum” in your name and every once in a while you blast a load of crude oil into the sea.

3) Keurig’s pod problem 🥤

Nowadays, we’re all listening to podcasts, but what about casting your pod into the recycling bin? While you’re working out how you feel about that joke, let us explain ourselves.

Keurig told customers its K-Cups were recyclable with a simple "peel, empty, recycle” routine. However, in most major Canadian cities, the pods weren’t widely accepted in municipal recycling systems at all. Even where they were technically recyclable, the process was more complicated than the marketing suggested.

Canada’s Competition Bureau disagreed with the eco-spin to the tune of a $3 million fine, plus corrective notices across packaging, websites and social media.

Keurig aren’t the only coffee sellers guilty of this. The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority banned ads from Lavazza and Dualit for calling coffee pods "compostable” when they could only be processed in industrial facilities. "Technically compostable” doesn’t really count when it comes to advertising products, in the same way that "technically edible” doesn’t either.

Accountant’s takeaway:

You’ve got to keep an eye on what’s theoretical and what’s practical, and regulators are very good at reading the small print.

4) HSBC’s troubling relationship with trees 🌳

In the lead-up to COP26, HSBC ran bus stop ads about planting two million trees and pledging up to $1 trillion to help clients transition to net zero. It felt like they were really turning a corner on this, and a lot of us were pretty sure that they were going to be the vanguard for a new environmental movement.

Sadly, many hopes were dashed when it was reported that HSBC was simultaneously financing companies responsible for significant greenhouse gas emissions – including oil and gas clients linked to tens of millions of tonnes of CO₂ each year. What a betrayal!

The UK Advertising Standards Authority banned the campaign, ruling the ads "omitted material information”. Presumably, HSBC ruled out suggestions that they include those facts in their ads.

Accountant’s takeaway:

If your sustainability narrative excludes the biggest line item in the ledger, it might land you in trouble. You might say you "fund avocados” when you go to the supermarket, but you’ve also spent £20 on chocolate.

5) H&M in the fast lane 👗

Fashion moves fast and, if you’re like us, it’s crucial to be on top of every latest trend. But it’s also cool to be sustainable, so when H&M launched its "conscious collection”, which claimed to be its "most sustainable” line, we were first in line.

There was a problem though. Regulators in Norway questioned whether those claims were clear or specific enough to justify the label at all. Using "up to 50% recycled materials” without explaining impact, volumes, or definitions of "sustainable” left consumers filling in the gaps. And what fools we felt! Trendy, handsome fools.

Elsewhere, Shein was fined €1m in Italy (and €40m in France) for vague and misleading environmental claims about its supposedly greener collections. Words like "circular” and "sustainable” were doing a lot of heavy lifting.

Accountant’s takeaway:

If your claim is that you’re "more sustainable”, it’s relative but not measurable. ESG language should be SMART.

🧠 Final thoughts

Greenwashing shares a lot with creative accounting. It thrives in vagueness, and it doesn’t stand up to some very basic questioning.

And the good thing is that people do bother asking now. Regulators are reading the small print, investors are probing assumptions, and customers are Googling your carbon data. If your sustainability claim only works in perfect conditions, or if it relies on generous interpretations, people will start dismantling it.

We’ve got to be as diligent with ESG reporting as we are with financial reporting. Which is obviously annoying, but it’s a brave new world!