Sustainability, Greenwashing and Shakespeare

An extended version of this post was was later published as an op-ed by Mike Duffy in Renew Economy. 

To read the full version click here.

It may be time for the Australian energy sector to brush up on the wisdom of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. In particular, “to thine own self be true”.
Today’s news of the ACCC’s greenwashing blitz and action by ASIC will be giving some in energy circles pause for quiet thought, if not chills.
The focus of the blitz was on other industries. But late last year, ASIC sent a shot across the bows, with its first energy greenwashing scalp.
Energy is such an easily demonised industry.
After all, those who work for fossil fuel companies aren’t directly saving pandas from extinction or providing medical care sans frontieres.
But the changes that are underway are epic and existential.
The truth, from my experience, is that most energy businesses have a very high proportion of people who are devoted to making a real difference.
Clever, committed, principled folk.
More than the public would expect or will ever fully appreciate.
It’s an industry in rapid transition and there are tens of thousands of people working hard to make the right changes happen.
And when they make a difference, they want the world to know.
It’s right and important that they do.
A large part of my work is helping energy businesses do just that; explaining and amplifying their clean energy mission and achievements.
I also sometimes find myself advising where credibility is being stretched.
That’s a serious problem, even when the ACCC isn’t looking.
It’s hard not to get excited by the change that’s being driven. Totally understandable.
But messaging around green credentials needs to be approached carefully, particularly where a business’s record is nuanced or worse, chequered.
That doesn’t mean hiding your environmentally friendly new light under a bushel.
It means having honest conversations about the credible way to frame businesses in their entirety.
For those driving change, there can occasionally be dangerous self-deception about the current state of play or even the pace of change.
I suspect there are key messages, much-repeated internally accepted truisms, that may need an urgent clear-eyed review.
In this current blitz, The ACCC said it was concerned at the level of greenwashing identified in advertising and packaging of 247 businesses.
The regulator found 57 per cent of the companies reviewed made inflated or wrong claims about their environmental impact, with the cosmetics, clothing, footwear, and food and drink industries the worst offenders.
Energy seemingly escaped the focus in this round.
However, it will need to take a cautiously self-aware approach to statements if it is to stay out of the cross-hairs.
In other words, this above all, to thine own self be true.