68% of executives admit that their companies are guilty of greenwashing
Earlier this month, UN chief António Guterres announced that we’d entered the era of global boiling, with July’s temperatures the hottest in recorded history. What’s more, wildfires have torn through the historic town of Hawaii Lahaina, with 1,000 people missing and 55 declared dead.
And yet, in the face of such worrying global warming, it still seems that executives and business leaders are somewhat hesitant to make the stringent changes we all need. The dangers of greenwashing, the act of falsely reporting on sustainability goals and results, are on the rise – having the propensity to damage employer brand and recruitment strategies.
According to data from Gitnux, 68% of executives admit that their companies are guilty of greenwashing, with 42% of them adding that they believe their commitments to ESG were “exaggerated, false or deceptive”.
And while in the short-term employers may believe that this ‘promotional tactic’ will help lure talent in, the opposite is actually true. Candidates, particularly younger ones, are copped on to the notion of greenwashing – and they avoid suspicious companies like the plague.
According to data from recruitment firm Robert Walters, over one third of professionals would turn down a job offer from a company with a poor ESG record – caring more about sustainability than their political (29%) and charitable (27%) perspective. What’s more, research from LinkedIn found that 86% of Millennials would take a pay cut just to work for a company that shares their personal values.
So what can HR do to stop the greenwashing and save brand reputation? Well, it begins with being honest and looking at your ESG policies. Nine in ten executives said that their ESG spending led to significant financial gains – with 66% of them seeing this happen in just three years. Keep in mind that it’s important to be transparent in your sustainability goals – involve your people. And, even if you fall short of your goals, just admit it. Use that as a benchmark to do better next year.
HRD is launching our very first ESG Summit – take a look at our agenda and register here.
